Angel of Death: Second Lives
by frekat
Summary: Angel of Death Rewrite: Leriko visits the world of Sword Art Online expecting something fun for him to do. Things take a change for the worst when he passes out in a forest and is told by a robed figure the he is the 'Angel of Death'. He is given a scythe that delivers an unknown skill that is named 'Final Judgement'. What will Leriko do and what is an 'Angel of Death?
1. Rebirth

**Hey, hey, hey! It's frekat. The author of this story…you don't know me? THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING READING THIS!? Kidding. Anyways, this is a rewrite of my crappy and, did I say crappy, story, Angel of Death! This one'll be way darker and hurting than the other one. Not even going to look at the story of that one. Just gonna write it. So it's kinda not like a rewrite but a completely different story. Didn't even finish the other one. Yup, I didn't. Stopped it like two months ago. Anyway, aiming for 10K word chapter every two weeks, 'cos, you know, I have a life and school is a bitch (what am I kidding? Everyone knows that). Heh, well, hope you enjoy it. Oh, it's going to be third person all the way! Maybe some first person segments. Meh, depends if the readers want it. Well, BEGIN!**

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><p>He flipped his phone out as it beeped and sighed. He was sweating as he'd been walking for half an hour straight in the direct sunlight while people that haven't seen him before would give him strange looks as they'd think that he'd be a cross dresser. With his slender, female physique leaning against the brick wall of a building, he read the message that his friend sent him a short time ago, <em>'Well, I've got good news, kid! My dad secretly pre-ordered SAO for me. He said he doesn't like this new VR stuff and prefers sitting on his ass all day playing Diablo. Anyway, I'll meet you on as Saito.' <em>He chuckled to himself as he covered his eye from the sunlight, 'Today's the day. I'll reach the top spot on the leader boards for sure.' He thought to himself as he waved to a group of girls that were in his class. They politely waved back and blushed when he smiled at them, his foreign and feminine smile like a prince's. He fanned himself for a bit and undid the very top button of his shirt, his blouse that he wore on his days off not fending off much heat, 'To hell with it. I could spend ages in air con while playing SAO.' He was originally born in Australia and lived there until six months ago. He and his friend moved to Japan because their parents thought they were interested in the culture when it was actually for the earlier release of the infamous game Sword Art Online. They, of course, studied for a whole year prior to this so they could easily read and write the language the people spoke. They could speak it like they were natives and their writing was average. They boy straightened himself up as he was slouching a bit and continued his walk back to his house as he came back from the grocery store, the last month of Autumn killing him with its weird heat levels and tree murdering winds. He was one for the cold, not the heat, and spends winter dressed like it was summer while everyone around him was wearing their thick coats and scarves while huddling close to the people near them in attempts to secure that little warmth they possessed. They thought he was crazy when he walked in the direct rain with a smug smile on his face and his eyes closed while he enjoyed the sensation. He wasn't a masochist or sadist either, making it a bonus to his unique personality that no one could figure out.

He swung open the front door of his house and took of his sneakers, the thought of himself turning into some sort of human puddle urging him to pick up his pace so he doesn't turn into one. He put the groceries he bought in their respective locations and wondered up the stairs and into his room where he shut the door and turned on the air con. The temperature was set so it was cold and he smiled as he insert Sword Art Online's game chip into the fairly new Nerve Gear he bought. It had a small chip in it from the time he dropped it on his desk chair which made him afraid to use it in case it messed up his body, which didn't happen, much to his relief. Some flecks of paint were scratched off from his fairly short finger nails to reveal the metallic material it was made of. He plugged the charger into his desktop computer that was conveniently placed next to his black wood double bed with the red sheets and the window view in front of it then placed the helmet on his head. He lay on his bed and looked around at his video games for his game consoles and silently apologised to them as he knew that he wasn't going to play them for a while, no matter how new or old they were. He calmed his breathing and shoved away his excitement while he looked at the digital clock that was in the corner of the small visor that was where his eyes were. It was twelve fifty-nine in the afternoon and the servers were expected to open when the clock stuck one. It did and he immediately yelled 'link start', his vision turning white with various colours and prompts appearing to make sure his sense were fine, of which they were, with the exception of an itch around his back area of which he couldn't itch, much to his disappointment. The login screen came up and it was a blue screen on a white background and he didn't have an account, so he entered in the username 'Leriko' and input a password that only he knew. A prompt came up saying that that account didn't exist and was asking if he wanted to create that as an account. He pressed a blue button with a white circle in it, guessing that that was the accept button as the other one was red and had a white 'X' shape in it.

The screens faded away to reveal a character creation screen of which a pre-set was already displayed. The pre-set was of a female with long black hair that went to the waist and dark, black eyes that accompanied a beautiful smile. The pre-set was wearing a black skirt with a black long sleeve shirt and black fingerless gloves. Black boots were sat upon the feet and the boots went up the thighs and stopped just below the kneecaps. The body was slim with thin thighs and arms and it had a fairly large bust, the overall body size approximately one hundred and seventy centimetres in height with the weight of forty kilograms, 'Yes/No?' A prompt appeared, asking him if he was going to accept it. Being too lazy to create his own character, he kindly accepted, knowing that no one would know if he was actually a female. In the real world, he actually had a feminine body, face and voice, making him the look of a female model. He was beautiful with his waist length white hair and sparkling blue eyes that could suck anyone's soul in. His body was slim, along with his arms and legs, and the girls keep asking him to show up to school in a female uniform, of which they supplied, and his hair tied back in a ponytail. He did just that and people thought he was a new transfer student of which they were wronged when he told everyone his real identity. The guys were jealous and he kept on getting confessions from various girls, even his third years and juniors. He was in his second of year middle school so he thought relationships were pointless, so he politely rejected them.

A screen appeared once more, asking him for the name he wanted to go under. He wrote 'Leriko' in English letters and hit accept. His vision turned white once more, clearing up with him in the spawn plaza of the wondrous world called Aincrad. There was a large tower made of a yellow-like stone behind him and arches made of the same material surrounded him on all sides, except his south where a wide path went straight for a while before stopping front of a large body of water, leading to the outsides where he can adventure and have fun. It seemed as if he was the first person in there as it was silent until various blue lights came from around him, of which players emerged, a mix between male and female. It was then that he noticed his avatar, the bust that he had and the clothes he was wearing, 'Right, forgot about that. Too lazy to create a character, done! Anyway, need a weapon first.' He thought to himself as even more players spawned in, yelling with joy as they've finally entered the world of Aincrad. Leriko set off to find the plaza, not used to the feeling of having boobs and not used to the feeling of having no testes or penis. It was weird, just like nothing was there, 'This is weird. Maybe I regret choosing this and not making a male character…no no no, this is fine. I'll get used to it over time. I might make another character later…' He thought to himself as he made a left into a smaller street that was filled with stall vendors. He looked around and one particular item caught his interest. A raven black coat was hanging from a stall and he had the urge to just take it. He approached the store and looked at the coat once more before speaking, "How much for the coat?" Leriko's voice was the same as his real life one, feminine and high pitched, making the part of him being a female even more believable. He didn't have an Australian accent when he spoke Japanese and when he spoke English he didn't have an accent either except for a little tone of a type of British accent, giving him that extra charm. The vendor rubbed his chin before looking Leriko up and down, determining if it would fit.

"Yes, yes, it would fit. It's one thousand Col." Leriko sighed before running his fingers through his hair and sighed again.

'Col must be the currency. Considering that I just started, I hope I have enough to buy it.' He put his hand back to his side and chuckled to himself, "I'll take it." A white screen appeared asking if he wanted to buy the coat and it also had his current balance. He currently had one thousand Col and he cringed before pressing accept, watching his money disappear, 'How am I supposed to kill things now? I don't have enough money for a sword so I'm probably going to have to beat mobs up with my fists.' He thought as the NPC vendor handed him the coat with a smile, waiting for Leriko to put it on. He swung it round his shoulders and put his arms through the sleeves, letting it slide down onto his body and then readjusting it so the collar stuck up. The coat, in all of its actuality, went down to Leriko's ankles and was slightly open in the middle, the edges of the cloth digging into the area between his breasts. The coat reminded him of a family trip he went on to New Zealand for to go skiing. It was similar to one he wore while he snowboard down a slope to only fall over and slide down, the snow gathering on his body until he stopped at the bottom to get laughed at bystanders. He got up and hit the guys while leaving the females alone.

He looked around at all the swords, maces and various other weapons they had until he came across a sword he absolutely wanted, even if it costed him his life. It was made from an iron, the blade made from a shining black that went for a meter long with the hilt made from a dark wood with a red jewel inserted in the silver pommel of the sword and the grip a pitch black. He approached the vendor and players were inserting themselves in the alleys now, looking for weapons and items that would help them with their quest, "How much for the sword?" Leriko asked as he picked it up and examined the blade.

"Ohoho, a new adventure, aye? Well, since you're going to be venturing into those dangerous fields, how about you take it for free?"

'Oh. My. God. This is real, right? Is he seriously giving me this sword for free!?' A prompt appeared and Leriko immediately slammed the accept button, the vendor reaching down beside him and sliding it in a black leather sheath then passing it to Leriko who slung it over one shoulder and under the other shoulder, making it diagonal with the sword's grip sticking out so it was out past his left shoulder where he could grab it easily. He heard a ting and looked around until he noticed an icon next to a digital clock that was much like the one on the NerveGear. He tapped the icon and a window popped up with a message that was like a walk through tutorial for beginners, 'Welcome to the world of Sword Art Online Player Leriko! This is a quick tutorial that will teach you how to open and close your inventory. First, raise your right hand then simply swipe it. After that, explore your inventory by tapping the icons with your index finger or fingers!' He dismissed the message and did exactly that and, much to his surprise, came up with a fairly simple interface that anyone could use. He looked around and noticed that other people didn't get the message, thinking that that wasn't suspicious at all. He wandered back down the streets to find and exit and sidestepped to narrowly dodge a dark-haired boy that was sprinting down the street, "Thanks!" He yelled before he turned the corner to go down the alley that Leriko was just in, 'Strange. It's as if that kid knew where he was going.'

He wondered to the edge of town and found a gate that led to luscious green plains with flowers and grass that bought a weird warmth of heart to Leriko as he stepped out of the safe zone and into the zone where you could potentially die. He walked and walked until a creditable yell could be heard from over a ridge where Leriko was, disrupting his silence and peace to, in a sense, grab his attention so he could go assist the person. Unknown to him, a red robed figure was watching from atop the sandstone wall that lined the edges of the city, "Yes, he'll be a good choice…better get to work then…" He vanished in a blue light. Leriko sprinted down the hill blindly and pulled out his sword with his left hand and swung it around, dealing very little damage to the mobs. His sword suddenly glow blue and one of the mobs, which looked like a boar, was immediately sliced in half and killed, shattering into thousands of blue polygons that flittered and shined like glass in the blowing wind, being pulled along with it. His sword glow blue again and one was sliced in half horizontally and another diagonally, killing off the mobs effectively with a red particle type of object splattering on the grounds and Leriko, giving off the effect of blood, much to his surprise and the victims surprise. He turned towards the person that let off the yell and gave a small smile to show that he was no threat. There was a girl that was around his height with short brown hair that was tied in a bun at the back with brown eyes that seemed tired. She had a slim frame with a bit of muscle and fairly large breasts, her purple shirt and leather chest guard pressing against her, showing her curved and robust figure, as she sighed while sitting flat on her rear on the grass. The wind blew by and her small purple skirt she was wearing blew up to reveal her black panties to Leriko. He looked away with a slight blush then remembered that he had a female character. He looked back and held his hand out, of which she firmly and happily took, and pulled her up off the ground and onto her feet, "Well, that was…interesting. First battle and I already saved a damsel in distress." Leriko smirked while the girl blushed and looked away while slowly rubbing the back of her head. He noticed a katana loosely hanging at her side and he held out his hand once again, "I'm Leriko." She softly shook it with a smile and Leriko grinned at her calmly, making the girl blush again even though he was a female character, and look away.

"Sakura. My name's Sakura. Why don't we stick together until either of us have to log off?" Leriko chuckled inwardly to himself, stepping back a bit to give her some space. The wind was gentle out on the field and Leriko liked it, the wind tussling his hair and blowing against him gently.

"It's easy as one two three. I can send a friend request, you know. Then we can play together when the other's online." He swung open his menu and scrolled down the various tabs, of which he had no idea what they did, and came across one of which the name gave away its purpose. He pressed on the tab, conveniently name 'Friends', for another screen to come out to his side with an empty list and various commands that were placed in positions that gave away their purpose. He pressed on a button that had a plus sign in grey and a screen came up saying, 'Enter the name of recipient or stand in front of a person to auto send a request.' He turned to Sakura full on as he had turned to the side a bit and the screen dismissed itself to replace itself with another one that said, 'Request sent'. Leriko noticed that all the writing had been grey or white so far and mentally complained about different colour choices. They could've chosen red or black, even green for that matter, and made the background for the menus different colours. Leriko received a message and frowned, wondering who it could be from and opened it. He grinned when he saw that the sender was Saito, his friend from real life, and read the message as fast as he can, _'Hey, kid. I knew you'd go under this name as you always do. Anyway, I'm at the plaza so come get me or I'll whoop your ass.' _Leriko inwardly chuckled and mentally prepared himself to beat his friend until he regret mentioning that, Leriko being a person that loves to be on top. He doesn't care if he's the top dog of everyone, but he still wants to be near the first place on the leader boards, "Ok, we're going back to town to collect my idiotic friend from real life and then we'll help him get some gear because he probably just logged in." Sakura nodded and followed as Leriko ran down and through the fields of the level.

In just a few minutes, Leriko not having forgotten the path he walked not long ago, arrived at the edge of town and slowed down to a slow walk. There quite a bit more people in this area that were preparing themselves to go out and venture the town, but there were also guys flirting with the women that, in Leriko's perspective, were most likely guys like him. But fat and sweaty nerds. They took their time and made their way back to the spawn plaza in fifteen minutes and Leriko couldn't find his friend. He opened the menu and opened the message again to reply to it, _'I'm here. I can't see you. There's like, fifty people lounging around here so wave your hands in the air or something.' _It was true, Leriko didn't know what his friend's avatar would look like and to make it harder there was approximately fifty people just lounging around, doing nothing except for talking or waiting for people. Sakura saw a set of hands shoot in the air and start flailing around like a madman and she couldn't help but giggle and attract Leriko's attention, "What's funny?" He asked only to get a point to the location, "God dammit, let's go before he kills me for not coming fast. He's kinda self-conscious in a weird way." They weaved their way through the crowds and Leriko stood in front of his friend that he just remembered named himself Saito, "Hey. Sorry for taking long. Had a bit of business to do." Saito grinned and hung his arm lazily over Leriko's shoulder with a mischievous grin.

Saito took the form of a twenty year old man, crimson hair spiking upwards slightly at the front and ending shortly at the back of his head. His eyed were an orange-brown colour with a bit of facial hair on his chin. He was a bit taller than Leriko's model and was a bit muscular, his body average. He wore black pants and a blue shirt with beige gloves that were made from cloth and a grey chest plate that had a black belt slightly below it.

"Of course you did."

"NOT IN THAT WAY, PERVERT!" He yelled out, getting everyone's attention, "Listen, you know me and pre-sets. Anyway, my friend Sakura over here doesn't know that I'm a guy and I'd like to keep it that way," Leriko whispered that, in hopes that Sakura wouldn't hear, with a huge success and sighed noticing how empty handed his friend was, "We need to get you a weapon first then we'll go kill some things." He spoke normally and shrugged Saito's arm off of his shoulder before turning to Sakura and sighing with a frown, "This is Saito. He's a huge idiot so please, take care of him when I'm not around." She nodded and held out her hand to Saito.

"Hey, I'm Sakura. Nice to meet you." Saito took it while Leriko was grinning and he forced a blush back, rubbing the back of his head while shaking her hand with a sheepish smile.

"Likewise. Guess you know my name because of miss loudmouth over there." He waved his hand at them with a comical smile that had no effect on the two, much to Leriko's dismay. Leriko clapped his hands together and put on a serious face that was all too familiar to Saito, Leriko using it many times when Saito messed around in serious or important situations, "We need to get him a weapon. My badass coat agrees as well, so let's hurry then let's go kill some things. Well, boars to be precise." They both agreed and Leriko took the lead again with Saito on his right, talking to him about the realism of this game with Sakura trailing not far behind them, seeming lonely as Leriko only listened and said nothing. It was true, the realism of this game was perfect. When someone is playing as their character, stimulated feelings and effects are created in the persons consciousness, tricking the brain into thinking that what they're doing is actually happening. This is inducing the sight and touch part of the NerveGear with the hearing, smelling and taste are the more complicated ones. They produce the sounds by sending the frequencies of the sound that is desired through the game files and into the NerveGear which is then lodged in the consciousness, making the player hear the sound. The smell is made from various smells that were taken from the real world and then transferred using a complicated machine into scents in the game. If the player were to smell some food or flowers, they would smell what they were in actuality when it is just the brain taking shortcuts to determine if it is real or not, ending with the assumption that it is real. The taste is very complex and uses many equations that go for hundreds of numbers that are sent to the tastebuds of the character and into the brain to make it think that the player has eaten the desired food.

"Sakura, what's wrong? Why don't you join in the conversation with us?" Leriko offered and she shook her head, not wanting to interrupt them.

"I'm fine. I've got nothing to talk about."

"Surely you do," He looked over at Saito as his head was looking over his shoulder at Sakura and whispered in his ear, "Sorry, going to have to drop you on this. You can take the behind roll, if you want." He then slowed his pace and was in line with Sakura, only making the latter nervous. Leriko had a quick save by talking about different types of video games, speeding the time for those two to end up in the middle of the alley that Leriko was in a while ago, "Right, pick a weapon that you like and then buy it. I want to get to level five before I have to log off."

"Right, right, your top dog disorder coming into play." Saito received a punch in the face and he stumbled backwards while clutching the affected area, "Wow, you can't even hurt me with your puny punches! Haha, I always knew you were weak."

"It was designed so you don't get hurt, idiot." By now NPCs and players alike had all of their attention at this display.

"Really, try harder and I'm sure you'll beat the system." His face was stomped on and his head went effectively into the brick pavement, pinning his head from moving but getting a perverted sight that somehow gave him a nosebleed, "Oi, perv, stop looking, you know? It may be a game but they still need their privacy!" A guy from the crowd shouted and everyone laughed, angering Leriko, even though he was half protecting him and half offending him. He cracked his knuckles and neck while approaching the guy, confusion written all over his face, "How about we have a duel? You offended me and you offended my friend. You know, we go a long way back, like, since the sixth grade. So his offences are my offences."

"Heh, what can a girl like you do to a guy like me?" Leriko maniacally laughed sarcastically before drawing his sword.

"Everything that you'll never do." Shouts of amusement and yells for them to fight came from the crowd, putting pressure on the boy, which he eventually caved in and accepted the duel.

"First, I need to get a weapon, you know? Oh, what do I get if you win? You're getting respect if you win so what do I get?"

"Anything you want." The guy smirked as Leriko sent him a duel request for a one-on-one half health duel, of which he kindly accepted with a counter counting down with a red diamond in the middle that said 'VS' and both player names at the side with a picture of their characters face. The clock hit zero and Leriko made no move, waiting for the guy's response. He was using a two meter long sword which required two hands and he made an awkward stance, his back leaned forward with his sword positioned in the air. Lots of people were watching their dispute, approximately hundred with intrigued looks as the man said one word before dashing at him, "You." Leriko made no effort to swing his sword as he sidestepped a slash downwards, intriguing the crowd even more. He whistled as the man swung his sword to the side, missing as Leriko ducked under it and used his sword to deliver an uppercut, the sword was covered in a blue glow and retracted the man's health to just above half of it and the crowd cheered when it happened. Leriko jumped away from a frenzied kick and countered with a diagonal slash across his chest, reducing his health so it was red. The crowd applauded and whistled when a sign came up that announced that the winner was Leriko while he sheathed his sword and walked away from the man, his two companions following him with awe in their eyes, "How did you do that?" Saito asked, wanting to learn how the hell his friend was so good.

"Instinct, anyway, choose a weapon already. I got nothing from that duel and I'm pissed that that guy was such an asshole."

"Well, at least you told them not to fuck with you." Sakura said and Leriko could only nod as she was right. They fear him now. Saito returned with a katana that was sheathed in leather at his hip and Leriko nodded before turning on his heel to go out to the area where he saved Sakura. They managed to get there exactly at two in the afternoon, the sun starting to descend from the sky to turn the world into a gloomy night, "Wow, there's a lot of boars here." Boars littered the fields and grazed the virtual grass, wondering around and waiting for someone to attack them as their code has been set like that. Leriko had his sword between the tusks of one of them and Sakura and Saito were taking one on together, 'Saito, that damn player!' He thought as the monster was thrown back onto its two back legs and sliced across the chest, effectively killing it. Sakura and Saito had finished their monster and the two were talking, Sakura giggling from a stupid story he was telling that revolved around Leriko, "And then her pen exploded and the ink got in her hair! Did I tell you that her hair is white in the real world?" Sakura couldn't help but laugh and Leriko smiled seeing their antics. Leriko wasn't one to be social, he only talked when talked to and he had nothing much to talk about because he mainly watches anime and plays video games in his spare time, not being an interesting person despite the amount of people that talk to him daily. Leriko wondered off into a forest nearby and smiled when the sun was filtered out by the thick branches and leaves. Trees were everywhere, branching off in different directions and bunched together but wide enough apart that you could walk through them, forming a single path that Leriko followed happily in hopes of finding something valuable or worthwhile. When the trees started to thin and spread apart, he came across a lone clearing that had a messy mound of brown mulch and dirt that looked like it was supposed to be dug up. He did just that, getting on his knees and clearing it away to reveal a small treasure chest, the size of his palm. It was black with gold edging and didn't have a lock, raising a question that floated on the edges of Leriko's mind. He braced himself, preparing himself for whatever may be in there, whether it be a Mimic Chest, a trap of sorts or some sort of reward in it.

The chest was flicked open to reveal nothing, just a black inside that could store things, until a bright white light started emitting from it, growing larger and larger until the only thing Leriko could see was a blinding white. He closed his eyes in hope of blocking out the light, but he had no success in doing so until it faded. His closed eyes could only see black and he opened his eyes to see that it was night, the moon shining directly down on him, basking him in the light and giving him a warmth he'd never felt before. He sat up and saw a man in a red robe with golden lining, standing there with his hands the opposite hand's sleeve, waiting patiently, "Welcome, Player Leriko, to the world of Sword Art Online. This is my world, and I've chosen you to be my ace, the Angel of Death, the one that guides the dead to their peace and the one that seconds my every decision." The robed figure's voice was slightly deep and masculine, giving a sense of supreme authority over everything and everyone, like a king that rules over a mighty land.

"Oh, wow, I never thought that I'd be chosen for something important." Leriko muttered, surprised from the sudden announcement.

"Well, here's your chance to shine. You'll need a few things." The hooded figure clicked his figures and a scythe fell from the sky and landed next to Leriko. The scythe was predominantly black, the blade having a streak of silver along the edges that shined briskly in the moonlight, blood red inscribings in a foreign language ran down the black snath of it, a black spear blade tipped with silver sitting at the end of the snath. A yellow-white skull sat on the heel of the scythe, a red scarf with ripped ends rapped down the snath, the total height of the scythe measuring one hundred and fifty centimetres, "This is beautiful." The robed figure couldn't help but nod, fully agreeing with Leriko's statement.

"The carvings on the snath of the scythe read, _'Bydd Marwolaeth yn dod i ti, dy einioes a gymerwyd gan fy mod,' _meaning _'Death shall take thee, thy life taken by I.'_ It's Welsh and it was a pain in the ass to translate." Leriko chuckled and took the scarf off the scythe, wrapping it around his slender neck with the torn parts facing behind him, loosely hanging against his back.

"Oh, one last question, would you like to stay with that avatar, or would you like a free range customization?"

"That sounds nice. I'll customize again." A blue window appeared in front of Leriko and he grinned as he saw the different colours and choices he could have, totalling one thousand different hairstyles, fully customisable body section, fifty different looking eyes and one hundred eye colours, various different clothes and a lot of shoes. Leriko flicked through every option and pressed on the one he liked most, the resulting ending in an ultimately fictional character from an anime. His skin was a ghoulish white and he had waist long black hair that ended in various spikes, the front of his hair slightly covering his hair with the sides extending down to his shoulders and stopped there in spikes, a dark crimson colour fading into a bright one from the black. He had a left eye that was golden and a right eye that was a bright violet and let off a slight glow, illuminating the darkness on his face slightly. He had the same female body with the same coat, the clothes changed to a black long-sleeved shirt with some black button-up denim short-shorts. He wore knee-length black leather combat boots that had small spikes in the heels and had black laces. On his hand, he had the same black fingerless glove on his right hand with a grey ring that had a skull on it and on his other hand he had black spiked knuckles with a black dagger sticking out the sides that had a silver edge, "I think I look pretty cool." He said as the robed figure still stood there, patiently waiting for Leriko to finish.

"Yes, but there's one thing missing, something all death angels should have." He clicked his fingers and a hot pain shot through his spine, making Leriko scream and writhe on the ground in agony as black draconic wings sprouted from his back, the length being one meter each side with a red hue running through the middle, "Was it worth the pain?" The figure asked and Leriko nodded as he tried flapping them, much to his disappointment when they didn't move a millimetre, "Try clenching the muscles around your shoulders, they should get them going." Leriko did exactly that, but tried all the muscles in his back and yelped when they slowly fluttered, slowly lifting him into the air, "When you want to descend, lightly release the tension and you'll slowly descend. Be careful to not fully let go or you'll just plummet to the ground. To go forward, lean forward a bit and lean backwards a bit to go backwards. To turn left or right, inch slightly towards the direction and you'll slightly turn. To turn fully, spin your body in the air directly. Now, have a go." Leriko floated in the air and did loops, sharp turns and accelerated as fast as he could, his body fully horizontal and speeding fifty kilometres per hour. He returned to his previous location and the figure was gone, a single note replacing where he stood, _'You are trapped in Sword Art Online until the final level is cleared. You will not fight me, but you will help the other players. You can customise your avatar whenever you want as I've set a tab in your menu and you have a special skill with that scythe that is named 'Final Judgement.' That is one of them but there are many more for you to discover as you level up. Your friends are waiting, so you better hurry before they think you died.' _The note suddenly burst into flames and Leriko shrugged, not believing a word the paper said before he set himself down just outside of town where his wings disappeared back into his back. He walked into the town and people looked at him, the sight of someone looking like that shaking their souls as Leriko was frightening the other people. He opened his menu and checked his friend list, pressing a command that said _'Locator' _that showed Leriko a map of where they were. He was quite close, the other two sitting inside a small inside inn, all shaken up from the message that Leriko didn't hear.

He opened the heavy green door and stepped in with a grin on his face, instantly locating his two friends that were sitting in a corner both that had a small table with dark wood chairs that had red cushioning on them. For some reason, Saito lokoed like his real self and Sakura looked different, "Hey, Saito, Sakura, it's me, Leriko!" He said as he stood next to the table, his scarf covering his mouth and his scythe strapped diagonally left on his back. The two looked up at him and shook their heads, "If you were Leriko, you wouldn't look like that in real life." Saito said while slowly shaking his head with closed eyes. Saito was the same height as his avatar, still having a slim body that had little to no muscles on it. He had short ginger hair that sprouted in spikes on his head and large, hazel eyes produced his sight. Sakura had fuchsia hair that was the length of half her back and she had average sized eyes that were a chestnut brown, "Mouuuu," Leriko pouted, which made Saito blush, and continued speaking, "You don't have to be mean. I'll show you my friends list then." He pressed a button that spun his interface around and the two people clearly looked shaken.

"We thought you died." Saito said with a shaky voice, audibly on the verge of tears.

"I can just respawn…it's not a big deal." Leriko muttered, annoyed by his friend's melodramatic performance.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR HIS MESSAGE!?" Everyone was looking towards the three with interested looks on their faces.

"Nope. What message?"

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

"I'M SORRY I PASSED OUT IN A FUCKING FOREST WHEN I OPENED A TREASURE CHEST!"

"So that's where you went…"

"Yeah, now tell me about the freaking message."

"A huge guy bled out of the sky and was wearing a red robe that had golden lining. He said that if we die in here, we die in real life and we can't log out either. So we're basically living in here until we beat the floor one hundred boss." Leriko frowned and held his arms over his character's bust, "Also, why don't you look like your real self? Everyone got their real bodies and faces." Leriko shrugged and thought up a reasonable excuse that could work.

"I was passed out in a forest so I'm pretty sure that didn't apply to me."

"He gave us a mirror which did that." Leriko opened his inventory and searched throughout, going through what was mostly empty slots. He didn't find any suspicious items or items he never had before he passed out so he shook his head. All the people turned back to what they were doing, thinking that the drama was over, "I don't see a mirror. But do you like how I look?" Sakura sat there in silence, drinking some peach flavoured tea with a stoic look on her face.

"You look like the female version of Death." Sakura mumbled and Leriko giggled while Saito was doubling over from laughter.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Do you like my badass scythe?" He unstrapped the scythe from his shoulders and did a little twirl with it, making Sakura giggle.

"You look cute like that." Leriko blushed when she said that, turning his head away to hide it.

"I'm…I'm going to go to bed now. Anyone else going?" The two people shook their heads and Leriko rubbed the back of his head, "Okay then, night." He walked off to an NPC that looked rather posh, wearing a sort of tuxedo with a slicked back hairstyle, "How much for a room for the night?" The NPC turned towards Leriko and smiled.

"One hundred Col per night." Leriko looked at his money count in his menu and he had a thousand again, probably from the robed person.

"I'll take it." One hundred Col was taken from his inventory and a bronze key was given to him, the number twenty-two inscribed on it. Leriko walked up some oak stairs, his boots clacking against them as he did so and reached a thin oak wood door that had the number twenty-two plated on some bronze on it. He put the key in the lock and twisted it, the door opening with a small push to reveal a rather luxurious room. The room contained a small circular table made of wood near a corner with two chairs at it, a bed in another corner with a bedside table and a lantern and a wardrobe in the corner opposite the bed, all of the furniture on wooden floorboards. Leriko shut and lock the door, hoping to get a decent night sleep and flopped onto the silvery-white sheets off the bed. He took off his boots and some black socks that were under it, throwing them across the room and landing in a pile of clothes. His scythe was neatly propped up against the wall, ready if anything bad were to happen. He then stood up, took of his coat, unbuttoned his pants and slid off his shirt, adding them to the boots. In only some black underwear, he got back on the bed and closed his eyes. His attempt to sleep was interrupted by a soft knock on the door, Leriko's eyes shooting open so he was staring at a wooden roof, "Who's there?" He waited a second and sighed before getting up when a response was heard.

"It's Sakura. Can I come in? The last room was taken by Saito." Leriko opened the door and dragged her in before shutting the door, locking it instantly as it unlocked when he opened it.

"What do you want? I was trying to sleep." Sakura's faced turned a light shade of pink and she stuttered when she talked.

"U-um…c-could I sleep w-with you?" Leriko giggled and pat her head, being slightly taller which gave him an advantage to do so.

"It's not that hard to ask, is it?" She shook her head and Leriko flopped down on the bed, sighing in a type of euphoria as the softness of the mattress brought back memories that he'd long forgotten. Sakura lay next to him after she unequipped her katana and curled up against his sides. Leriko could feel some sort of moistness around his chest area and he sighed with regret, not being able to understand how scared she must feel, "It's okay," He whispered to her as he stroked her hair, making her go into a full cry of fear, "Everything will be alright," Arms wrapped around Leriko and he pulled Sakura onto him, holding her with her face buried in his neck, "You've got me and Saito to protect you,"

"What'll happen if you both die?" She cried, sobbing even louder, her tears clouding her eyes as they overflowed and ran down her face, devouring Leriko's neck in a warm and damp wetness. Leriko held her checks and pulled her face up, inching closer for a kiss. He did exactly that, softly pressing his lips against hers while staring into her shocked, chestnut eyes that were threatening to suck him in, "If I die…don't even think that. But if worst comes to worst, run and hide until someone stronger than us comes along…stay with them and live to get out the game. But please, don't forget us, even if it causes a bittersweet pain." She nodded and she kissed him herself, slightly uncomfortable with the idea of kissing another girl.

"Would it help if I was a guy?" She nodded and Leriko smiled, opening his inventory and quickly changing gender, the only thing changing being his body to a slim with his face staying the same, "Are you more comfortable?" He saw the shock on her face and he held her to his chest, letting her hear his heartbeat to reassure him that they were alive, breathing to see another day. She looked up to him with hope in her eyes, hope that crushed Leriko's heart as he knew people would die all around him, no matter the effort he put in to protect them. They lay there for a few minutes before he heard Sakura's breathing slow down and get shallower, indicating that she was asleep. He got up, changed back to being a female and put his clothes on, strapping his scythe on his back again. The door crept open and he slightly flinched when a voice called out, "Where are you going?" He turned his head on his shoulder and smiled a grim smile.

"I'm going out. I'll be right back…" He trailed off as he stepped out the door, his boots clanking. A pair of arms suddenly wrapped around him and he could feel breasts presses against his back, forcing a light blush on Leriko's face, "Don't go, please…everyone always leaves me…" Leriko took shallow breath when light sobbing was heard again and he turned around in the spot, facing Sakura, the one that sparked a sudden love in his heart.

"I need to go…I need to be strong so I can protect everyone…"

"Then let me come with you!" Leriko smiled as he knew that someone would be there to protect him and watch his blind spots.

"Ok, better not let me die." He was punched in the shoulder lightly with a muffled laugh, the sad moment from before gone.

"Why would I?" Leriko shrugged and Sakura equipped her katana before they headed out, locking the door behind them and exiting the inn into the darkness where they would hunt. It was chilly, sending chills up the spines of the couple as they reached the gate to a large plain with a forest at the end of it. The field was mostly dusty, the wind carrying it and gently pushing it into their eyes as they carried on, sighing when a pack of five wolves spawned a few hundred meters away from their current location. Leriko swung his scythe off of the strap and twirled it on instinct, nearly dropping it once but flicking it back up with his feet and standing with it at his side, ready to strike. The wolves, appropriately named _Dire Wolf, _charged at them head on as they noticed the two players near them. When one of them lunged at Leriko, he swung his scythe up and hooked its body on it, impaling it and chucking it away when he swung the scythe to the side. It got back up straight away and charged again, aiming for Leriko's legs. The scythe glow a bright crimson red and was brought straight down from above Leriko's head, impaling the wolf and creating a small crater while the wolf shattered into millions of glass-like neon blue polygons. Leriko stepped through the polygons and did a heavy spin with the scythe glowing crimson again, this time a darker shade as a wolf went flying and dispersed into polygons when it hit another wolf. Sakura sliced one in half and they went back to back as one howled, summoning more to their location, "Heh, how's your side?" Leriko asked before flung one in the air with the end of the scythe's blade and spun it around to lunge forward and kill it when he stabbed it.

"It's going pretty good. How about yours?"

"Eh, too easy. Um, you might not like this but, I'm going to have to throw out of the circle for a second." Sakura nodded and Leriko used the flat end of his scythe as a jumping board, flinging Sakura out of the circle, taking a deep breath before smiling manically. The scythe glow white, the wolves inches away from pouncing on him and tearing him to pieces. He spun fiercely, a severe whirlwind tearing apart the wolves while virtual blood was splatting all over him, filling his drive for more blood. Sakura was watching as a tornado was forming, body pieces flying everywhere, bringing shock to her face as it dispersed to leave a blood covered Leriko kneeling on all fours, panting for breath with his scythe by his side. She ran up to him, skidding on her knees next to him and helping him up, "What was that?"

"Demonic…Whirl…Wind." He panted as he used his scythe as a support, "Took more…energy then…I thought." He fell to the ground and lay there, panting from the lack of air in his lungs.

"Come on, get up if you don't want to do get murdered by more of them." He tried getting up but kept on falling over, not having the ability to stand.

"You'll have to carry me or leave me to die…"

"Hey…I said for you to not leave me…and you said you wouldn't…so it's a given…" She picked Leriko up bridal smile and Leriko grinned before falling unconscious…

* * *

><p>His head was pounding and he felt nothing. The darkness he saw concerned him as everything was black. He could talk fine, his voice husky and dry, "Where…am I?"<p>

"Welcome…Player Leriko to the Cardinal. The system that runs the whole game!" The voice was childish and it sounded like a little girls, "Right now, your body is unconscious but your mind is with me."

"Why am I here though?"

"Well, I came to introduce myself because you'll be partnering with me from now on!"

"Is this that robed guy's fault?"

"You mean Kayaba-sama? Yeah, he's the one that's making me do it. I enjoy it though, you're an interesting person, you know?"

"Nope. Never been told that until now. Well, nice to meet you Cardinal. Got a shorter name or nickname that I can use so I feel more comfortable? And you're an awfully aware system or AI or whatever the hell you are."

"Hmm…let me see...you can call me Hikari! Also, Kayaba-sama spent ten years creating me and he achieved me, a fully aware AI!"

"Do you at least have a body…maybe one that fits your girlish voice?"

"Hey! You sound like a girl and you've got a female avatar even though you're a male."

"How did you know?"

"I didn't…you just admitted it."

"FUCK! Alright, let's see your new body…" Leriko could see again, this time in the centre of a large sphere shaped room with monitors and computers everywhere, a faint blue glow coming from each of them. The monitors had views of various different players, some dying and some just relaxing, and the computers had screens full of code that ran the game. He looked behind him and saw a little girl that was about eight years old. She had pink hair that went to her knees and large brown eyes on her face. She was smirking as she held her hands on her hips and Leriko blushed when he saw that she didn't have any clothes on, "Could you, I don't know, put some clothes on?" Hikari frowned at him and walked towards him.

"No." Leriko sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his palm.

"I'm a guy and you're a…'girl'. Things might happen."

"You're in a female avatar so I see no problem about you getting stimulated." Leriko blushed even more and took a deep breath.

"Could you please…send me back to the game?"

"Sure, but I'm giving you this pendant that allows you to communicate with me at anytime and anyplace. You speak to me telepathically so people won't think you're insane when you talk to me. If you want to see me, just tell me and I'll teleport you here where we can have fun."

"Ok, thanks." Leriko's eyes were forcefully opened and he was lying back in the inn, Sakura sleeping next to him peacefully, bringing a smile to his face as he stroked her hair. He locked at a clock in his HUD and saw that the time was three twenty-seven in the morning, "Oh yeah, forgot I was in SAO." He sat up and stared at the wall opposite him for a few seconds before getting out of bed, putting his coat on as it was taken off and in the wardrobe before strapping his scythe back to his back and walking out the room and downstairs. His rugged appearance raised a few eyebrows and he merely stared back at them and looked around, trying to find Sakura and Saito. He found them, sleeping rather ungracefully with their heads on a table and their hair all tangled and curled, "Stop sleeping." He muttered that as he nudged Saito in the head with his elbow, effectively jolting him awake.

"Why'd you wake me?"

"Idiot. Do you know what you were doing? Let alone, what happened to me?" He shook his head and Leriko ran his hand through his hair, sighing and closing his eyes gently, "You were sleeping at a table. And I passed out in the wild an hour or two ago. Maybe four hours?"

"I don't care if I sleep at a table as long as I get sleep."

"Well, someone could do something to you."

"Everyone's locked themselves in a room and are hiding from their inevitable death."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." Leriko huffed his cheeks in annoyance and sat down next to Sakura, putting his elbows on the table with his forehead nestled in them.

"Sakura, wake up." He gently whispered in her ear, stirring her in her sleep.

"No…let me sleep." She wriggled in her spot and reset her position, her head against the back of the chair.

"You know, I'm alive."

"HolyshitIforgotitwasyou!" She spoke too fast and wrapped her arms around Leriko, yelling joyously as Leriko just looked down at her with a blush. Saito fell off of his chair, being too melodramatic about the situation.

"Leriko, buddy, how could you do this to me!"

"SHUT UP YOU PERVERT!" Leriko stood up and planted his foot on Saito's head, pinning his face to the ground to muffle his words. The last of the people in the bar had their eyes on the scene, chuckling as Leriko picked Saito up and threw him against the wall.

"Um…Leriko, you may want to stop that before he dies." Leriko picked Saito up by the collar and went face to face with him, staring into his soul with eyes that could kill Satan himself.

"Please, don't do that again, Saito." Leriko's voice was soft and gentle, making Saito blush as he forgot that Leriko was actually a male. With a blush, he nodded fiercely and Leriko dropped him on his backside and sat back down next to Sakura, "So, if we're really trapped in the game and will die IRL if we die in here, what's the plan?"

"Get stronger, kill the bosses, kill the final boss and leave this hell hole." Saito responded almost instantly as he dragged himself back onto his seat.

"That seems too easy though," Leriko whined before grinning maniacally and standing up on the chair, his left knee arched on the table, "We're going on an adventure!"

* * *

><p><strong>Whoa, finished on a great note IMO. Anyway, that was the happy-go-lucky intro to the story where everything is fine before it goes bat shit crazy. If you want an OC to be in the story, PM me with a full bio of them (in-game name, real name, appearance, weapon used, specialty, how you want them to be introduced, tragic past(if they have one)where they live in Japan, family background and when they should die(IF you want them to. If you don't, they won't be killed. Promise.) If there's anything I missed there include it in the bio and yeah, that's all for that part. Oh, Sakura is Kiro and Kiro is being renamed to Kuro (meaning black) for those people that read the original.<strong>

**This part is a little bit about the story. The story can go as long as you want it to. Just request how long you want it to be and I'll try come up with ideas for it. By that, I mean that after I finish rewriting the chapters of the old one with added chapters in-between, they will go onto other games with a story arc that you can decide. If no one comes up with one, I'll figure it by myself. I've already got one in mind and I'll tell you about it. Leriko and Kuro (Sakura/Kiro) go into another game (title needs to be decided) and have to choose a race, much like ALO. This one's different though. You can choose various races (Orcs, Trolls, Elves et cetera et cetera) and they both have one that no one else can choose. The race they can choose is a wolf-human hybrid that I need to name because I'm too lazy to google everything. They then have to go on and stop all the races killing each other out (once a race is fully dead, it's gone from the game forever, meaning the game has an eventual end. Oh, you can only create one character on the game as the NerveGear/Amusphere recognises your brainwaves and memorises them.) Cardinal is being manipulated by the owner of the company to kill everyone with a single command which is where Leriko and Kuro will come in. I won't spoil anymore so you'll have to wait :)**

**Any grammatical errors, I'm sorry about. Any typos, probably unnoticed, so forgive me. If I randomly slip into first person, I'm probably really tired and can't think straight.**

**This has been frekat, your author, and I'll see you in the next one!**

**Read and Review (I'll really need your opinions and stuff to make it through everything)**


	2. System Influx of Emotions

_Leriko opened his eyes as he felt he was stuck to something. It was thick and he could feel gravity trying to pull him down as a dark stoned roof stared down at him. He wriggled, trying to escape but he found he couldn't detach himself. He saw his scythe and two katana's awkwardly placed to slightly to his right in his peripheral vision. He turned his head slightly, the only movement possible, and nearly screamed when he saw a giant black spider feasting on Saito's body. He was alive and screaming for someone to help him as one of his arms were ripped from its socket. He screamed in pain as virtual blood splattered all over the floor, 'Oh god. No. Saito. NO. We're in a spider web, aren't we? Where's Sakura? Where is she?' Saito's health bar was slowly dropping as Leriko lay in the spider web, thinking about what was going to happen to his long-time friend, "SAITO!" Leriko yelled out as the last of his health bar drained, blue polygons exploding everywhere and dissipating when they touched the walls and floor. The spider looked at Leriko, four red eyes staring at him. It started crawling towards him and climbed over him, impaling him in the stomach and sending a sharp pain through his stomach as blood started dripping down towards his face. Leriko turned his head towards his other side and saw an unconscious Sakura gripping his hand tightly. The spider stopped above her and dug a pair of fangs into her, pulling a large chunk of flesh and meat from her, jolting her awake and making her scream, "Sakura, calm down. We'll get out of this together…" His voice was shaky and he was on the brink of tears, Sakura's stomach already ravaged, a large cavernous space where her insides used to be. The spider stopped and stared at Leriko, Sakura's health bar on the last of her HP. She smiled melancholically as blood came from her mouth and dribbled down her face, 'Do not be afraid,' She thought, 'Everything will happen in time.' She would always tell herself this when she was unsure. As she lay there in the web, she let go of Leriko's hand and put it in her mouth, biting it as hard as she could to drain the last of her HP and end her suffering, "Even if it was for a short time, I loved you…" She whispered as she dispersed into polygons._

"_Sakura! Sakura…Sakura…" He sobbed as the spider stood above him and peered into his eyes..._

* * *

><p>"Wake up, Leriko. It's nine in the morning." Leriko was sprawled out awkwardly on the bed his room had and he rolled over, hitting his face on the wall and making him swear. He sat up and jumped out of bed, mumbling some nonsense to himself, "I thought we were going to have an adventure today. I was looking forward to it but it looks like we're not going." Leriko turned his head toward Sakura and grinned while he clapped his hands with open eyes, still in his female avatar.<p>

"Oh, we are going on an adventure. You're going to need some energy though. Nonstop until dark." Sakura sighed and then giggled as Leriko was already heading down the floors of the inn where Saito was waiting.

"She's such a child, but that's what I like about her." She followed after Leriko and saw him dragging Saito by the collar to the door, pleads for him to stop echoing through the rather empty place. They left through the door, Saito still being dragged by the collar, and headed towards the outer gate where they would have their training. They made it, the large stone walls towering above them that brought a feeling of safety as they edged closer with smug smiles on their faces, "We can do this! We'll rise to the top and show Kayaba whose boss!" Saito yelled as they exited the city to see hundreds of players out in the fields.

"Looks like everyone had the same motive." Leriko said as he stepped forward in front of them, pulling up the party menu he discovered last night. He sent the invitation to both of his friends and they gladly accepted, ready to face whatever was out there together. Leriko took a swift one eighty and grabbed his friends hands to land them to the other side of the massive town and out into that field where there were considerably less players and more boars for them to slay. They walked straight past the mobs and through a forest, much to Saito's and Sakura's surprise, and to a large open cave that was dark on the inside. The cave was dug into the side of a fairly large green-grassed hill and went into the depths of Aincrad where high level monsters hid away. Leriko dragged them in and let them go with a smug smile on his face, "This is our hunting spot so don't forget." Leriko whispered and they nodded while unsheathing their weapons while Leriko turned and walked with his scythe already in his hands. Large spiders crawled around and, on several occasions, attacked them to only be defeated and added to the party member's EXP count. The path suddenly split into four smaller caverns and they stood around, waiting for Leriko to make a decision as he appeared to be leading this training session. He went to the most left one and yelled in joy when a large red treasure chest was found. Much to their dismay, it was locked and there wasn't a key nearby that they could see. They walked back down the path and into the furthest right one. There was nothing but a yellowed skeleton leaning against the wall, wearing tattered rags with a broken bronze short sword in its right hand, "Poor thing…" Sakura muttered before Leriko started searching the corpse, "What are you doing?" She asked to get no response from him as he pulled out a coin and a single bottle full of a reddish-pink liquid.

"Searching the corpse for loot. Never know what they might hold."

"You know, it could be a prop for someone to find." Saito crossed his arms and leant on one foot with a blank face, his voice as equally blank as his face.

"Still got to search it."

"Yeah, right." Leriko got back up and went back down the tunnel and immediately went to the nearest one to be surprised at what he saw. They entered a large cavern that was filled with purple spiders that were crawling towards them at an alarming speed. Leriko charged right in and sliced one in half, draining half of its HP as it fell to the ground to crawl on its four remaining legs. Leriko stabbed it with the spear end of his scythe and watched as it exploded into blue polygons that showered around him, giving him a sense of happiness. His scythe glow bright red and he swung another one into the air and stabbed it into the ground, walking away as that one too exploded into polygons. One lunged at Leriko to be cut down by an on edge Saito, a small smile on his face as he sliced diagonally upwards to his left to kill another one, "Thanks man, appreciate it." Leriko yelled as a screeching sound came from the end of the cavern. The fighting stopped and the smaller spiders scurried away and back into the dark shadows where they came from only for a much larger purple spider to emerge, giant red eyes lighting up its face to show sharp fangs that glinted a tint of red in the light of its eyes. It made a high pitched hissing sound that echoed and spawned several spiders half the size of itself that went straight for the group of three, "You two hold those off. I'll get the boss." Leriko charged right in, dodging lunges and stabs from the smaller ones and tripped on a thick line of silky white webbing. Leriko's foot was found to be stuck as he continuously tried to yank his foot out of it. He swore and then cut it with his scythe to set his foot free to only narrowly miss a giant spider leg coming from above. Leriko stood up and grabbed onto the leg as it rose, going to stab at him again to change its attack when it felt him clinging onto its leg. It swung at the nearby wall to crush Leriko against it, which was successful as the scythe wielder only had a slither of HP left. He dropped to the ground against the wall and spat blood on the floor as it rushed into his mouth. He stood up and parried another strike before slicing the tip of one of the eight legs off, forcing the spider to rear back and shoot some webbing at the boy.

He narrowly dodged it and ran at it full force, his wings sprouting out of his back and making him speed along the ground as he flew, a blur of black racing up to the spider and sending a deep slice down across the length of its back. The HP bar of the giant spider only dropped by a slither, much to the annoyance of Leriko. He looked around and saw Sakura backed against a corner with a spider about to hit her and possibly kill her as her HP was in the red zone. Leriko sped at it, veering to the right slightly to miss getting impaled by the bigger one and cannonballed into the one that was going to attack Sakura. He grabbed it and smashed it against the wall, instantly killing it as the velocity and the impact against the wall seemed to be too strong for it. Chunks of rubble fell from the ceiling and the trio turned their attention to it as the smaller spiders backed off and out of the cavern. The giant spider was hanging from the roof and was slowly spitting webbing out onto the wall and floor, "This is the plan. I'll go cut its legs so it falls onto its back for you two to then slice at it until it dies. If it gets back up, back off and let me handle it." The other two nodded as Leriko zoomed off, charging a skill that made his scythe glow a dark blue and create a trail as he flew at top speed towards it. He let out a battle cry and closed his eyes as impact occurred…

* * *

><p>"Geez, he's so reckless. Makes me wonder why Kayaba-sama chose him. Is it because he has a strong will or is it because he fights for his friends? I wonder…" Hikari was standing in front of a monitor, watching the whole thing play out as Leriko was hit by the spider. He fell to the floor, clearly unconscious as the spider advanced onto his friends, "I chose him because he's the one. He is the only one strong enough to complete this duty, even if he breakdowns on several occasions." A scrawny man in a white lab coat stood behind Hikari, a bored expression on his face. His short brown-grey hair gave him a look of age, even though he was only twenty-six years old.<p>

"Oh, then why is he about to die?" The man laughed and placed his hand on Hikari's shoulder.

"Think twice before you think. Just observe and see what he's capable of."…

* * *

><p>"Sakura! Sakura…Sakura…" He sobbed as the spider stood above him and peered into his eyes. Leriko's HP was low enough that one strike from anything was enough to end him, "YOU! YOU'RE THE REASON THEY'RE DEAD! GIVE THEM BACK TO ME! GIVE…THEM…BACK TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Leriko's eyes turned a crimson red and his scythe grew considerably stronger, a red lacing loosely hanging from the snath with a chain that had a kunai attached at the end coming from the bottom of the snath and extending around Leriko's wrist. He grew taller, his features changing to one that has seen many horrors, their soul consumed by darkness and loneliness. His hair grew longer, extending to the back of his knees, the tips a golden that quickly ran to a pitch black with the sides becoming bleached that ran down to his chest. His clothing changed, a torn black cape replacing his coat with a hood covering his face. His shorts changed to black skinny jeans and his boots were gone, leaving ashen white bare feet. Four raven black crow wings spurt from his back and the spider web shattered into thousands of little pieces of string that flittered down onto the floor when he moved his arm. His scythe dropped down next to him and he picked it up, a maniacal smile spreading onto his face as he walked towards the spider, the scythe blade digging into the floor and being dragged along while the spiders attempt at stabbing him were deflected by an invisible force, "WHERE ARE THEY!? WHERE ARE SAKURA AND SAITO?" His voice slightly more matured and was a tad deeper, his voice bellowing off the walls and echoing into his ears. The spider backed away and cornered itself, a thick black malicious aura spreading and filling the whole room, supressing anything that tried to attack him. The spider shrunk back as the scythe grew triple its size and was swinging down towards it, the last thing it ever saw was darkness. A loud explosive like sound echoed throughout the cave and out into the open, surprising a few brave adventurers nearby that were near the cave.<p>

Dust and dirt blinded Leriko as he got onto his knees and began to cry a sorrowful cry that echoed through the caves, "Sakura…Saito…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…I couldn't protect you…couldn't save you because I'm weak…" He stood up and exited the cave to fall through a portal that appeared under his feet. He found himself on a platform in the sky that had a view of the whole castle of Aincrad that took his breath away. He was sitting on the edge with one leg idly hanging off as the wind blew against him, _**'Kill them…'**_ He looked around, confused, and saw Sakura and Saito chained to the floor with a black entity above them, _**'Kill them…it is your duty as the Angel of Death…'**_

"No…No no no…I can't kill my friends…I can't kill them…"

'_**DO IT OR FACE MY WRATH!' **_Leriko got down on his knees and covered his ears, screaming in pain as his head started pounding furiously inside of his skull, "NO! I AM NOT KILLING THEM!" He walked over to the two and started yanking on the chains that kept them captive, "LET THEM GO!"

'_**If you won't kill them…THEY'LL HAVE TO SUFFER FOR ETERNITY!'**_

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Leriko yelled out as a force pushed him away and over the edge, his body free falling through the levels of Aincrad. He fell through another portal and was back in the cave on his knees with his face in his hands, "What just happened? Was that my…imagination? Heh...hehehe…hahaha…HAHAHAHAHAHA! THOSE MORTALS CAN DIE!" The black entity flew into his body and made him laugh maniacally…

* * *

><p>"Shit…this wasn't meant to happen."<p>

"What's happening Kayaba-sama?"

"There is a foreign entity in the system that is controlling Leriko's mind. Cardinal?"

"Yup, I'm on it! And also, call me Hikari please." She started typing furiously on her keyboard as errors kept appearing on her screens. Her screens shutdown one by one and only one was left on. It showed Leriko covered in blotches of blood, his scythe was chipped and cracked at the blade and Leriko's eyes were blazing crimson as blood ran freely from his forehead. His clothes were torn and ripped, cuts and bruises coming from where blood ran freely down his body, _**"This is what you've done to me…" **_He whispered, his voice multiplied by many different tones that made a voice filter, _**"You unconsciously knew this would happen, so why? Why did you let this happen?"**_ Kayaba stared at the monitor and glanced at Hikari. She was at a loss at what to do and she ran the Cardinal System herself.

"Kayaba-sama! I can't do anything! What will we do?" Hikari was genuinely worried as she sat down on a white leather chair that appeared from nowhere.

"Well, seems like it will be a battle of wills."

"Well, don't you think that it is too early for this to be happening?"

"Hm, what do you mean?" Hikari looked over at Kayaba with a frown and sighed while rubbing her forehead.

"This isn't a foreign entity, is it?"

"No, it isn't. This is one of the drawbacks of being the Angel of Death and I never intended for it to be _this _strong. I originally designed it so they'd go a bit insane for a while but I never expected him to act like this. Maybe something's wrong with the code of it. Could you check when he's back to normal? I don't want to risk him being harmed or potentially killed because you made a mistake."

"Yes, sir!"…

* * *

><p>Darkness…That's all I saw. It enveloped my vision as my body went numb and I felt no breathe enter my virtual lungs. It's probably my fault though. I did go psycho so that may have cause this, "Hello?" I called out, waiting for an answer that could possibly end my suffering and let me join my friends. There was no response and that made me afraid. Afraid of what was happening to me. What was that black thing exactly? Why is it making me murder my friends? I'll never know unless I make it tell me what it wants, "Anyone there?" My voice echoed now and I felt that my eyes were closed and that my eyelids were heavy. I forced them open, using most of my energy as I felt extremely tired. There was an extensive lake with cherry blossom leaves floating on the surface towards me as I was standing on the clear, blue water of the lake that threatened to pull me in and drown me. There was crisp green grass that sat upon the dirt of the land where a forest of cherry blossoms were grown with one wide path that led through it. I attempted to walk, my feet frozen in place as they felt like lead and I cursed. I felt dizzy and fell backwards onto my back after a minute or two and lay there, letting the water make me one with it, <em>'Leriko! Snap out of it!' <em>I looked around after hearing Saito's voice and saw Saito and Sakura standing there in the aisle of cherry blossoms with smiles on their faces, waving in a notion that meant for me to come with them, "Sakura…Saito…I'm sorry…I can't…you died and you two aren't real…you're figments of my imagination…" Sorrow was filling my voice as I whispered with my eyes closed, tears threating to force themselves out from under my eyelids. My body felt very relaxed and I smiled sadly as it felt like I was getting a massage while my head started pounding. I grabbed it with a sudden strength and I was lifted up. I opened my eyes to see…me? But it's what I look like in real life. My silvery-white hair that loosely hung to my waist and my azure blue eyes that were dreamy and full of happiness. The real self of me smiled and said some words that shocked me. I could only lay in the arms of myself and feel shocked at what he said, "Is that true?" I whispered to receive a sharp and serious nod from myself. He put me back down on the floor and walked into the forest of cherry blossoms to disappear with the wind, leaving nothing but a white one-handed long sword that lay in the pink leaves.

I felt like I could move again, a sudden burst of energy making me yelp as I wriggled on the surface of the water. I clutched my head and slowly stood up, cautious at the fact that I was standing on the surface of a lake. I stepped forward, then again and again until I was at the shoreline where the sword lay. I picked it up, the lightness of it giving me no problem as I swung it around with ease, "What's this?" I picked up a folded piece of paper off of the floor and read it with confusion.

'_To myself._

_This may be sudden, but call upon your real self where you won't hide away and can show your true strength. Beat this demon or whatever the hell it is and save our friends! For fucks sake! What are you doing? Get up and take control of your own body!'_

"What exactly do I mean?" I muttered to myself to turn around from a familiar voice.

"Idiot. Your body is being controlled by that black thing. You know, actually, _we _know that we can beat it and kick its ass if we really try."

"We do? Well, I do. You didn't know until know."

"Wait. If you're me, then how are you here?"

"Well me, you're in a goddamn coma in a hospital bed where your parents are worried shitless for you. You're about to slay innocent players, well, the thing in _your _body is about to slay innocent players. To be honest, you're not even in the game at the moment but in your mind. Take the sword and rise! Rise and save the people of Aincrad from their certain pledge to Death's grip! Be the Angel of Death, the one that saves everyone at a single glance! Defy your master known as Kayaba! Kill the king of the castle and run it under your guidance! Be the hero you always wanted to be…" I picked up the sword and studied it with an interested face. The blade was thick and a pure white and slightly curved inwards then outwards to diagonally point into a sharp end. It had gold linings several centimetres from the edges that shone in the light and a golden guard. The grip was wrapped in a pure white cloth but black was clearly visible from underneath with the pommel being a small white circle that extended out the tiniest bit. All in all, I thought it was beautiful and I really liked it.

"Any idea of how I could get back?" My real self chuckled and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You already know the way. Follow your friends, young one..." I turned and looked at the path where Sakura and Saito were walking backwards and calling out for me. I smiled and ran straight down the path, past Sakura and Saito, past all the cherry blossom trees and through a water fall. I held the sword in both my hands as I ran, the depression and grief gone from my mind as I suddenly stopped a scythe strike in mid-air. The player I was 'attacking' took that chance to slice at my chest for me to narrowly dodge and jump back to put some space between us, _'Be the hero you always wanted to be…' _Those words echoed through my mind and I froze as my scythe started glowing white and taking shape into the sword I held just a short time ago…

* * *

><p>"Kayaba-sama! Leriko turned his scythe into a sword!" Kayaba walked over to Hikari and looked at her single monitor with an interested expression.<p>

"How? That isn't supposed to be possible! Hikari, check the weapon!" She tapped away on her keyboard for a few seconds when a window popped up with the stats.

"Wow...it's called…The Darkness Deletion…"

"That's not possible! That sword doesn't even exist in the game!"

"Could this mean…"

"Yes…it's beginning…"

* * *

><p>"Listen, I'm sorry! I blacked out and lost control!" Leriko yelled out as he blocked a strike from the person's dagger. She seemed to be around Leriko's age with long crimson hair that was tied into a pony tail with a black ribbon. She had bluish-green eyes and she looked beautiful. She had a short but slender body with small breasts. She was wearing a red shirt with a black short skirt with a red piece of metal covering one breast with red arm guards on. She had black tights on with short boots that were black, "You're lying! You attacked me because you want to kill me!" She yelled back at him with an average pitched girl voice.<p>

"If I wanted to kill you, why did I stop before I decapitated you?" She stopped mid-strike and Leriko took this chance to grab her dagger and disarm her, "Don't worry. Just disarming you."

"What, so you could have your way with me?" Leriko nearly choked and sighed with a little chuckle.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're a guy and I'm a girl."

"What do you mean?" Leriko grabbed his hair and froze when he saw that it was a pure white. That could mean only one thing, and that thing was that he was in his own body.

"I'm sorry if I'm wrong. The body type just doesn't fit because it looks like you don't have boobs."

"Listen, alright, I'm a guy. I need your help though."

"Why should I help you?" Leriko sighed and threw her her dagger. She caught it and was ready to strike when Leriko turned and walked into the forest.

"If you don't want to help me…that's fine…" He disappeared behind the trees and looked up at the sky with small tears in his eyes, "Don't worry…I'm coming guys." He spread his wings and flew into the sky with a single feather falling to the ground…

* * *

><p><strong>{Music Insert: Power of Will by Max Legend}<strong>

'_**I've told you already, he's not coming for you. I've planted my seed inside of him and it will slowly make him go insane.'**_

"That's impossible! This is just a game!" Sakura yelled as she struggled to break free of her chains.

'_**Think about it for a second child. You're using a machine that directly connects to your mind. With that, I can modify his consciousness and make him go insane.'**_

"You're not even real…so how?" The black entity chuckled and formed into a shadow of a person.

'_**If you think I'm not real, think again. I was created without anyone knowing. Let's say I'm a manifestation of all of the player's hate towards Kayaba.'**_

"What do you mean?" Saito asked as he opened his once closed eyes to look at the entity.

'_**Have you heard of the human will?' **_The two nodded, _**'You don't know the limits that the consciousness has so you cannot comprehend how I was created. The boy has hid in his mind while my seed is possessing him and making him slaughter everything he sees.'**_

"No…you're lying..." Sakura didn't want to believe that, not wanting to believe that her friend was now a heartless murderer.

'_**Come to face the facts…there's nothing that can stop me for I am a part of you! I am your hatred and anger and you can't deny that.'**_

"What about me?" Leriko was standing on the edge of the platform with Darkness Deletion at his side, his white hair and black cape blowing in the gentle wind while his azure blue eyes were filled with sadness and a feeling of despair that could never fade, "I never slaughtered anyone. I never hated anyone. I never had a side of hatred and anger because…because...because I'm the Angel of Death! The one that saves the people and deletes the darkness that stands in my way…and that includes you...the darkness that I kept pent up all this time. I acted nice so people felt good about themselves. I never wanted to be lonely, never wanted people to shun me from society. I had to come to terms with that and try my hardest to make friends when deep down…I wanted to be alone where someone will never find me because I was dangerous. I was on the brink of hurting everyone around me because I'm not a normal person. I'll randomly snap sometimes and beat people to the point where I was continuously called a demon. I didn't tell my parents about this because I didn't want them to worry about me while I continuously hid in my room and shut myself in my room where I thought the world would just disappear and let me be the only one left. Do you understand why I'm doing such things? It's because I'm trying to make amends with myself and be the hero that I always dreamed of being…" Sakura and Saito watched with awe as Leriko sprouted black crow-like wings that glow a bright white and step forward to slice at the entity. The entity quickly formed a sword made of shadows and blocked it.

'_**Foolish boy. What makes you think that you can defeat me?'**_

"It doesn't matter...you know that you're the part of me that wants to destroy everything and soak in the blood of my enemies. But that part of me is gone in the floating castle of Aincrad. People will look at me as a hero because that's what I was created to be. You, on the other hand…were a fault in my creation. The balances became unstable and your influence on me strengthened. But now…now I have the power to set the balance right." Leriko stepped back and spun to his right as the cape changed to a black coat that was as dark as midnight. He sliced upwards but was parried and stunned for a second where he was sliced across the chest.

'_**Do you see? You can't beat me because I'm the part that always wanted to escape!' **_Leriko was sliced down the centre of his body while pain jolted throughout his system. Blood poured out of the wound and his health bar disappeared with the world slowly turning black, "You think that that will stop me? Every last breath is spent fighting like a soldier or running like a coward. As much as my brain is telling me to run my heart will never falter." Leriko ran towards the entity and ducked under a sword swipe to slash right through the centre of his hatred's manifestation. It chuckled darkly as Leriko rolled backwards and lifted his sword up to block the oncoming slaughter of attacks. One by one, his limbs were sliced so they were covered in blood as he stood his ground.

'_**Don't you understand? You can never kill something that is a part of yourself but that part of yourself can kill you.'**_

"I know…I came to terms with that when I nearly suicided back in my home country. You know, hope is an emotion that is widely felt by people. Wanna know why they feel that? They feel that because they're human where I'm just a demon that always falters in his tasks, never feeling hope or love because he'll just hurt someone when they get too close. I want you to understand that you've hurt a lot of people that are close to me."

'_**It wasn't me that did that…it was me controlling you to do that.'**_

"I understand that. You hurt my heart to the point where I stopped feeling emotions. That was until I meet a girl one day while sitting on the edge of a bridge. She told me that devils may cry and that the people they hurt know that they didn't mean it. There was a story as well. It goes that a demon hurt his lover and ran away because he was afraid that he'd kill her. He was eventually found and his lover told him that she loved him…no matter what before his sorrows escaped him and he found himself crying tears of blood."

'_**Then what?'**_

"The story stops there…because I was that demon…" A single tear escaped his eye as he was stabbed and pushed off of the edge once more with his eyes closed and a small smile on his face, "I never learn…do I?" Leriko whispered to himself as the wind rushed past his ears.

"No…we never do, do we?" Leriko opened his eyes and saw an opaque vision of himself above him, falling with him as his hair was blown out of his face.

"Am I insane?"

"Sadly, you are." The real Leriko sighed and closed his eyes again as his body shattered into millions of polygons...

* * *

><p>"No…Leriko…no…he died…didn't he?" Sakura was being hung off of the edge of the platform with tears in her eyes.<p>

'_**He didn't understand that I couldn't be beaten. He was naïve and stupid.'**_

"Why did you have to kill him?" Saito yelled as he was hung next to Sakura.

'_**He deserved to die. He harmed many innocent people that only wanted to be his friends.'**_

"That doesn't mean he deserves to die! He wanted to be alone because he knew this would happen!"

'_**And for that reason…he deserved to die. It was his wish that no one could grant, not even himself as he was afraid of hurting people even more…but it is time for you to join him in the land of the deceased.'**_

"No! Why are you killing us!?" Saito started to wriggle as Sakura was limp and showed no expression, the will to live suddenly gone from her heart.

'_**That is something that shall go unanswered as you'll find out soon…goodbye, friends…' **_The two were suddenly dropped and they just stayed in their current positions as they knew that the entity was right. The entity watched as the two shattered into polygons…

* * *

><p>"Sakura…Saito…I'm sorry…I failed again..." He sat up and took off his NerveGear and placed it on the bed that he was lying on. He was in a hospital room, the heartbeat monitor slowly beeping as he let tears roll down his face. He pulled out all the cords that were connected to his body and put on his clothes, which consisted of a white blouse and some shorts that were on a table next to him as he got out of the bed as commotion was heard in the corridor, probably because his heart monitor flat lined. He opened the door and left the room with red eyes as he walked down the corridor and to the lift. He stepped in as it opened and let it take him down to the first floor of the building as he was on the fifth. He stepped out and walked past the reception desk and out the doors of the building that led him to the outside world and city. He got into a light jog that led into a sprint as he ran towards the Argus building in the city that he was in. He avoided cars and knocked people over as he never stopped running. He swung the door of the building open and walked up to the reception desk with an angered look on his face, "I need to meet Kayaba right now. Tell him it's Leriko." The receptionist looked up from a computer and at him with a confused face.<p>

"Sorry, you need to have an appointment to see Akihiko-san."

"Listen, I don't have time for this bullshit. Go or I'll barge into his office no matter what."

"I'm sorry, but you just can't."

"Then I'll have to do this the hard way." Leriko sprinted to the left and to an elevator where a guard was standing. Leriko pressed the call button and was about to step in, when the doors opened, but was stopped by an arm, "You can't go in there, kid."

"Fine by me, but I have to decline that statement." Leriko ducked under his arm and kicked him over when the guard tried grabbing him. The door shut as Leriko pressed the button for the topmost level of the building where Leriko thought Kayaba was waiting. The elevator opened and Leriko stepped through it and sprinted up to a tinted door where two more guards were standing. Leriko swung the door open and spun around when he was grabbed by the collar. He punched a guard in the nose and smile sadistically as he heard the man's nose break while the other one pulled out a Taser. He was zapped and merely stood there as he fought the intense electrocution. He slowly brought his fist back and punched the guard with the Taser before stepping through the door and shutting and locking it behind him, "So, we meet in the real world, Leriko"

"Listen Kayaba-san, I need to ask you for a favour."

"No need for honorifics. I already know what that favour would be so I already took care of it."

"You did? What was it then?"

"You don't watch the news, do you?" Kayaba picked up a TV remote and pressed the 'on' button, a sixty-four inch plasma TV lighting up on a news program.

'_It has been reported that three players of the game Sword Art Online have awoken from their comas a few minutes ago. Two of the three stay in the hospital where they reside while the third one has mysteriously disappeared. The two who awoke, named Kuro and Seth, have been reunited with their families while police have been set to search for the third who is named Leriko. We have information saying that that isn't his real name and that he has been called that since the age of nine. If you have seen him, please report it to the police immediately.' _A picture appeared that showed Leriko against a brick wall smiling as he held a metal baseball bat. The TV was switched off and Leriko looked at Kayaba blankly before raising his right hand and speaking, "Scratch that. I need you to, if possible, give me Kuro's house address so I can go see her."

"Sorry, that's something I can't do."

"Shit…alright, I'll do anything you want me to for the first favour."

"I want you and your friends to travel back to Aincrad in a week because you have a…special duty to fulfil."

"Ok, I'll do exactly that."

"Thank you. I presume you have someone to find?" Kayaba held out an envelope with 'Leriko' written on it. Leriko took it and unlocked the door and swung it open, looking back when Kayaba said his name, "You'll need these." He held out three hard copies of Sword Art Online that Leriko took and stuffed into his short pockets before running down the corridor and into the elevator. It opened on the first floor where police were questioning the receptionist until they looked over at Leriko, "Alright, kid, we found you. Your parents are waiting for you." Leriko walked past the officer that said that with a sad expression, "Now, where do you think you're going?" Leriko spun around and grabbed the officer's outstretched hand with his left hand, tightening his grip as he spoke.

"I'm going to see my parents. If you try to stop me, you'll regret it. And tell my parents to wait a little longer." He turned and ran out the door with tears streaming down his eyes once more, _'Sakura…no, Kuro…wait a bit longer…' _He thought as the city suddenly turned into suburbia where houses were neatly lined with a quiet and calming air. He approached the door to his house and swung it open slowly, "…I'm home…" He gloomily muttered as hurried footsteps could be heard in front of him. Arms quickly wrapped around him and he held his face to the floor with tears running down his cheeks, "Leriko, where have you been? We missed you so much." Leriko didn't respond as he got out of the person's grip and walked up to his room. He swung his door open and climbed onto his black and red double bed to sit in the corner with his knees against his chest and his arms wrapped around them. His PC sat on a desk next to his bed and he looked at it before crawling over to it and switching it on. He sat in a black leather chair and waited patiently as it booted up, "Kuro…I'll find you and come visit you…" His desktop appeared and he quickly opened up his internet browser while ignoring the endless amounts of Skype messages he was getting from his real life friends. He went onto Google and various search engines and searched for Kuro to come up with no results. He lay his head on his desk and lay there until his mother came upstairs and opened his door, "Leriko, dinner's ready if you want some." She got no response as he didn't even attempt to move or talk. He lay there, lifeless and depressed as his mother approached him with caution, "What's wrong?" Still no answer as he lift his head up and looked at all the messages he had received. He opened up Saito's profile and looked at the one message that changed everything.

'I saw her.'

"No…no no no…how…where is she?" Leriko whispered to himself as he stood up from his position and ran out his front door, down the streets and to Saito's house. He knocked on it to come face to face with Saito, "Hey. You weren't lying, were you?"

"No, I wasn't. I saw her on the street with a guy dressed in a black tux and a bodyguard-looking guy."

"Where was this?"

"In the main shopping district near the mall."

"Thanks…I'll see you." Leriko ran off towards the shopping district as Saito just sighed and closed his front door.

'He's naïve. I tried talking to her but I was simply thrown away by that bodyguard guy. I wonder if he's gonna make it…'

* * *

><p>'Faster…I need to go faster…' I thought to myself as I sprinted down the street barefooted in the moonlight. I got the occasional object pricking into my feet but I didn't care. I need to find her, no matter the cost. It's my fault she died in there so I have to own up to it. The people I passed stopped and looked at me as I shoved past or bumped into them, "Sorry!" I yelled out as I accidentally pushed someone to the ground.<p>

"Watch where you're going, kid!" The person yelled at me as I turned a corner to bump into someone and fall over myself.

"Watch where you're going!" He was old and was wearing a black tuxedo. He must be the guy Saito was talking about.

"Hey, old man, have you heard of someone named Kuro?"

"What? I don't know of that person." The old man got up and I was quickly losing patience.

"Listen old man, I don't know who you are but I know that you have Kuro in your possession."

"What makes you think such a thing?"

"My friend. He came and tried to talk to her but was rudely interrupted by your bodyguard."

"I still do not understand what you're talking about." I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close to me.

"Listen, old man. You will take me to Kuro."

"Or?"

"You'll regret not doing it."

"I don't have time for your games." The man slapped my hand off of his collar and started walking off to turn the corner. I sighed and continued running as it was convincing that he didn't know where Kuro was. I turned my head to look across the road to see a flash of fuchsia go past me. That's it, isn't it? I turned back around and sprinted after a black car to quickly lose it, but I didn't give up. I kept on running and heard a gate open. A mansion. The car's driving up a hill and suddenly stops with Kuro getting out with shackles on her hands. That's not right. I run up to the gate and a security guard flags me down, "Hey, kid, you're not allowed in there."

"I need to see her right now." I point up at Kuro and the security guard chuckles lightly.

"You can't see her. She belongs to Yagami-sama now."

"What do you mean?"

"He bought her off the black market for a few hundred thousand."

"That's not legal."

"I know. If I try to do anything, Yagami-sama will probably hire someone to kill me."

"That's bullshit."

"I know. I'm scared for my life so that's why I obey."

"Know any sort of secret entrance?"

"Yeah. There's a hole in the fence near the garden. Go down to your right then take a left and look along the fence."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"I promise I'll end his evil reign."

"That'll be hard, kid. He's got security cameras everywhere."

"I'll just have to deal with it. See you round."

"See ya." I turned to my right from the gate and ran along the fancy brick fence with the metal bars. Rich pricks, got to hate them. I see no hole in the fence though. Shit. I continued along the fence and did a full lap around the massive fence line to only come back to the main gate where the security guard should be. He's not there though. This could be fun. I grabbed onto the bars and placed my foot on a horizontal bar that let me boost myself up and let me continue climbing. The fence was about two meters tall, which made it easy to climb and jump over. I spotted a lone security camera on a pole that was staring right at me. I hid behind a nearby bush and peeked out to run up the road and dive behind a hedge sort of thing. More cameras. I got up and winged it, running to the door as fast as I can to try the handle and find that it is locked, "Well, shit." Was all I muttered before I felt the darkness.

* * *

><p>"Let me go!" Was all he heard as he woke from his short moment of unconsciousness. His eyes felt heavy and he moaned as he tried to sit up to feel a shoe step on his chest.<p>

"Looks like you're awake." He opened his eyes to stare up at the same old man he 'terrorised' on the street.

"You…" He growled as he was spat on.

"This will teach you to break into my land to steal my property."

"She's not your property. She's a human being!"

"Not to me."

"You ass!" He yelled as he was kicked in the side. It was the bodyguard that Saito was talking about. He towered around two meters and he looked buff. He wore some sort of shades with a black tuxedo and a bald head, "What, too scared to hurt me yourself, old man?" Leriko was kicked again and he heard shouts coming from somewhere in the room he was in. It was a big room, velvet red making the most of it as paintings hung from the walls. There was nothing else in the room that he could see as his head was being kept to the ground by something so he couldn't look around and his hands and arms were bound by rope, "No, my boy. Just afraid that I'll break my fragile body." Leriko growled and started trying to move his head to feel pressure on it, "Move anymore and I'm afraid your skull may cave in on itself."

"What shit are you on, asshole?"

"Hehehe, nothing. This is how I make a living. Selling cute girls to other people and killing people that find out about it." Leriko's face turned thoughtful and he pouted.

"But I'm a female. You're so mean if you think I'm a guy." The old man took a step back and rubbed his chin with one of his hands.

"No, you're not. Females usually have breasts."

"You know, that's just rude. Some women are flat-chested."

"Hmm, never heard such a thing."

"Are you fucking kidding me!? You're what, seventy something years old and you didn't know that?"

"Exactly. Hmm, tie her up next to the other girl."

'Wait, what? That worked? THAT ACTUALLY WORKED! Yes, now I have a chance of escaping.' On the inside, Leriko was cheering in joy as he had a blank face on the outside. He was unbound and picked up by the bodyguard, "If you try to escape, I may have to kill you." He was placed down on a wooden chair and tied up again by the hands, but this time he was next to a fuchsia haired girl. The old man and his bodyguard walked off, leaving the room and leaving the two kids together, "Hey, Sakura."

"Leriko?"

"Yup."

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, wanting to be sold off to a pervert with him thinking I'm a chick."

"You're not?"

"Nope."

"Wow. Why was your avatar female then?"

"It's hard to explain. I'll tell you after we escape."

"Oh ok. Why do you sound really feminine then? Let alone look like a female model."

"Family genes."

"Really?"

"Mhm. Now, just going to do something quickly." Leriko stood up after his monotone conversation with Kuro, his backside sticking out with chair on it while he waddled around to Kuro's back. She was restrained by a thick rope that looked too hard to chew through. Leriko opened his mouth to reveal canine like teeth that dug into the rope with ease, Leriko moving his head backwards and forwards like a saw. The rope, after tens of minutes, finally broke and unravelled to set Kuro free, "Now you have to untie me." She got up and undid the rope, careful to quietly put it on the floor as to not alarm anyone that might be outside, "We may need that." The rope was picked up as Leriko whispered as heavy footsteps were heard outside. They stopped suddenly and the door flung open to reveal the bodyguard, "Well, seemed too easy." Kuro muttered before jumping to the side to avoid a giant fist coming her way. Her hand was grabbed by Leriko as he ran, dragging Kuro through the red hallways with an annoyed look on his face as the bodyguard stormed after them. A loud crack could be heard and Kuro fell to the ground in pain as she felt blood running down her back. Leriko stopped and looked back to move his head to the right to avoid a bullet from a pistol, "Oh, for fucks sake." He yelled before charging at the brute. Kuro was off to the side, slowly bleeding out as Leriko threw a punch that was grabbed by a hand. He was punched in the face and launched across the hallway as the brute approached Kuro and picked her up by the hair. Leriko let out a war cry and hit the brute on the back of the neck to momentarily daze him, "Up you go." Leriko whispered as he picked the girl up bridal-style as the brute once again chased after them. Leriko grit his teeth as he felt something go straight through his calf as he ran, making him limp slightly as he screamed and ran even faster, "I don't think…I'll make it." Kuro muttered as Leriko turned around the corner and felt a bullet lodge itself in his stomach. He continued running despite the huge amount of pain he felt, "HELL YOU WILLL! LISTEN TO ME…YOU WILL LIVE…EVEN IF IT TAKES MY LAST BREATH…WHICH IS LIKELY AS I HAVE BEEN SHOT TWICE!" He roared as he felt a third bullet go through his shoulder.

He stumbled as he nearly dropped Kuro on the floor as his whole arm felt like it was on fire, "You should leave me here…let them sell me."

"NEVER! I WILL GET YOU OUT OF HERE!" Leriko screamed as one narrowly missed his neck. He turned right into a narrower corridor as he felt his strength leaving him. He turned left and saw a massive wooden door that he presumed was the front door. He was correct as he kicked it open with a small shower of saw dust to continue running as several bullets were shot after them. One went straight through Kuro's right foot and another went through Leriko's right ankle, "FUCK! I AM NOT STOPPING NO MATTER WHAT! IF YOU WANT US, YOU'LL HAVE OUR CORPSES!" Leriko screamed as the front gate opened for him to run free, "We're gonna make it Kuro… We're gonna make it…" Leriko had lost a large amount of blood as a slowly dying Kuro lay in his arms. He went down the main road towards the hospital with more bullets flying at them. The police were heard in the distance as Leriko entered the emergency department to faint and drop Kuro on the floor...

* * *

><p>Kuro slowly opened one eye to find herself in a hospital bed with Leriko in another one next to hers. He wasn't moving. His heart was still beating and she sighed when she heard the promising sound of hospital equipment around her. She was bandaged around her foot and stomach area as Leriko had multiple bandages on his body, <em>'He risked his life for me and nearly died.' <em>She thought as she heard a door open and saw a women looking like Leriko enter the room. Kuro quickly shut her eyes before she was noticed and kept a still face as she pretend to sleep, "Leriko, you never learn, do you?" The women sighed as the scraping of chair against a floor could be heard, "They said you came sprinting in with a girl in your arms. Said she'd been shot twice while you were shot four times. You'd always try to be a hero only to be shot down." Kuro listened with interest when she accidentally giggled at a small joke, "Oh, awake now, are we mysterious girl?"

"Sorry." Kuro said as she opened her eyes and turned her head towards the woman.

"It's alright. So, who are you?"

"Kuro, the girl that Leriko saved."

"Wow, you're beautiful. No wonder why he came home all depressed to then run off without a word." A light blushed touched Kuro's cheeks as she smiled lightly at the women.

"I'm Leriko's mother." Kuro frowned at the word 'mother', catching the woman's attention, "What's wrong, Kuro-san?"

"Nothing." Her voice was a bit hoarse and her throat was tight.

"It's obviously something if your voice is like that." Kuro sighed in defeat and covered her eyes with her forearm.

"When I was five years old, my parents got into a fight that ended with my mother getting badly injured. She went to hospital and died a few weeks later of serious brain damage. One month later, my father committed suicide by jumping off of a bridge into a raging torrent of water that killed him."

"Oh…I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

"Wanna join my family?"

"What do you mean?"

"I could adopt you as my daughter."

"I don't want to be a burden."

"Come on, Leriko's an only child and I'll let you keep your relationship with him." Leriko's mother smiled smugly and Kuro turned a deep shade of crimson.

"It's not like that!"

"Oh really? Too bad, I guess you'll never get to marry him et cetera et cetera pointless stuff parents tease their children with." Kuro couldn't help but break into laughter at that badly put joke, along with Leriko muttering some stuff that the two didn't hear.

"Say again."

"I want some cheese." The two girls looked at each other before doubling over in laughter, effectively waking Leriko up from his state of unconsciousness, "I said I wanted some cheese! Huh, what am I doing here?" The laughter died down and Leriko looked at the two people before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"So, Kuro, going to take up my offer?"

"…Why not?"

"Welcome to the family!"

"What did I miss?" Leriko mumbled.

"Meet your new sister, Kuro!"

"Wait what!?"

* * *

><p><strong>Well, um, hey! I don't really get what this chapter was about (even though I am the author. Wait, I understand now!) We'll dive into Leriko's and Kuro's past next chapter to then be smashed back into the SAO game where shit will go down. Were my jokes at the end good? No? Aw, I'm not that good at jokes . Excuse me for any grammar mistakes or missing words, still very tired since the last time as well as going camping for four days and not being able to sleep -_- The music insert should have ended at the end of that section. If it didn't, you read to fast or too slow. When I read it with the music insert, it fit perfectly. (that goes for every future music insert)<strong>

**Oh, OC submissions are still open 'cos I'm still too lazy to come up with some. Except for the red-haired girl in the forest. She's definitely in the story. This chapter was quite mixed up as well. For a short explanation about the black entity, it's basically all the hatred, sorrow and sadness of the players in Aincrad. It is also feeding off of the anger that Leriko pent up for most of his life, making it powerful enough to disrupt Hikari and her monitors. Darkness Deletion will be explained next chapter as well as tragic stuff. If this chapter seems something like an end story from an anime/book et cetera, think again. The ending of SAO for Leriko will be this with the ten most horrible things you could think of multiplied by cancer. CANCER FOR GODS SAKE! Enough with the bad jokes. Excuse me for the cancer part (anyone get the reference? No? Only me? Go watch SWEAbridged SAO abridged series. Right now. Couldn't stop laughing until I watched it for the fifth time.)**

**Enough of my ranting.**

**Leave a review, follow, favourite, show it to your cat and don't forget to virtually bitch slap me for telling you do all that stuff.**

**As always, see ya in the next chapter!**

**(Quick update for those that are reading my High School DxD fanfic. I haven't been updating for the past month or so because it is impossible to come up with anything original that is also entertaining and not involving endless amounts of fights. Next chapter will be uploaded in a week or two, along with this one.)**


	3. Past of Depression

_I've been harassed and bullied all my life. No one could stop me though at the times I decided to retaliate. My life has been full of sadness and anger that keeps on fuelling the demon in me. No one thought I could be stopped, that's why the harassed me even more…to push me to my limits. In my home town in Australia, I was genuinely afraid for my health and how my future would turn out. Would I be someone that sits inside all day that mopes over the past, or will I be someone that gets out and has fun with friends. Unless by some weird magic, I'll never know. But my past helped me to get over these things. And I'm glad for that._

He lay on his bed, his arm over his eyes as his alarm clock rang in his ears. He sadly chuckled before turning it off and not moving, the silence comforting him as he heard the wind softly rattled his window. He decided that it was time, getting up and putting on his school uniform to only flop back down on his bed when he glanced at his wardrobe's built in mirror. That was why they bullied him, the way he looked like a girl. The clicking of his clock despaired him as he knew he had to leave soon, traveling into the place that most people thought was hell. It was mainly known as school.

_No matter how short I cut my hair, I always somehow looked like a girl. The guys bullied me because of it for a reason I never found out myself. Some of the girls joined in as well while the others thought I was cute. They didn't dare come near me or talk to me as they'd get hurt like I did, being punched and kicked until somehow came to intervene._

He sighed, his shoulder length brown hair not matching his innocent blue eyes in the slightest, "I have to fix this." He said as he grabbed some of his hair. He considered dyeing it a different colour, like white or black. His two favourite colours. He opened his door and walked down the hall to the kitchen where his mother was sitting at the table, eating breakfast. He tried to avoid her as much as possible as she fusses about the littlest things, "I'm off." He muttered as he got to the front door, putting his shoes on and lifting his bag over his shoulder.

"What about breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry…" He answered his mother as the door shut behind him. He stepped onto the footpath and looked up at the blue sky, smiling slightly as he remembered his happy preschool days. He remembered running around without the slightest care in the world as he laughed. Those were the days. He covered his eyes with his arm as the sun came out from behind a cloud, the sudden burst of light momentarily blinding him as he set off walking down the street towards his school that was half hour away. He crossed the road and lingered behind a couple of males that were in his class as they talked to each other about video games and anime, "I wish I could have friends like that…" He whispered to the sky as the people in front of him suddenly stopped, making him bump into them.

_I was only twelve at the time when the demon inside was released from its bounds. It was terrifying for me as I felt like an observer. It was also terrifying for the guys that I nearly beat half to death. It was their fault though, so no one could really blame me for what I did._

"Sorry." He said as he got off the ground as he fell back from the sudden force.

"Watch where you're going, tranny." One of the guys said as he turned around to punch at him. It hit him right in the forehead and he stumbled back before being tripped over by another one. He only smiled sadly as he closed his eyes for what must've been more than the hundredth time that this has happened to him. He felt a fist impact with his jaw and something awoke inside of him. He wanted to fight back, he wanted to show them that it doesn't matter what you look like. He quickly opened his eyes to narrowly dodge a punch from one of them to grab another's fist. He pulled the fist towards him and pushed the owner into one of his friends to make them fall off of the path and onto the road where they were nearly killed. He ran into an open sprint along the path towards his school where things would only get worse. He ditched his bag to run faster, his lightweight giving him more speed. It was a waste though as they easily got up and tackled him to the ground, punching him in the face over and over until he was unconscious.

_I wanted to learn self-defence so I could stop the hordes of pain that were coming. By the year twenty twenty, you would've thought people would be over bullying when it got worse instead. No one did nothing about it though, not even teachers. They didn't stop fights, they let them go on while watching and secretly betting on who would win. I wasn't sure if it happened everywhere. It could've just been my school._

He awoke on the sidewalk with his bag several hundred meters behind him. He watched someone pick it up and hurry over to him, "Is this yours?" The person asked, who turned out to be a girl in his school's uniform. She had short black hair and bright chestnut eyes, much like his father's.

"Yes, it is." He said as he sat up and stood up to waver and be caught by the girl.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice a soothing innocent one.

"Yeah. Not from around these parts, are you?" He asked as he winced when he picked up his bag, a sharp pain running down both arms.

"Just transferring in today."

"Here's a tip for you that I don't mean in a hurtful way. Stay away from me if you don't want to be hurt."

"Why?"

"People bully me because I look feminine."

"That part about looking feminine is more than true. But one thing, bullying people because they look beautiful is low." He blushed slightly from the girls comment and dusted his hands on his uniform.

"Anyway, I'm Leriko. It's not my real name but everyone calls me that for some reason." He held a hand out that was politely shook with a beaming smile.

"Bliss. My name's Bliss."

"Nice to meet you but I think we should hurry to school."

_For once, I was truly happy in my life and I wanted no one to take that away from me. But it seemed like there was a universal law that denied all happiness from my being and it made me sad. Bliss was a nice person, always loving and caring, no matter what happens._

The couple arrived at school in the next ten minutes or so, many hateful stares aimed at Leriko's direction which made him nervously sweat a little, "You've obviously done something for everyone to look at you like that."

"Absolutely nothing. Except for being born." Bliss covered her mouth while she giggled and they stopped in the middle of a courtyard. The school was pretty large, seven hundred and a bit attending with a total of at least thirty classes. The school supported all grades from preschool to the end of high school, which was surprising as not most schools do that, "Well, I'm sure that they're just immature idiots. I've got to go to the faculty room quickly. I hope we're in the same classes."

"What grade are you in anyway?"

"Seventh."

"Same."

"What a coincidence. I have to get going now."

"See you at first break." Bliss walked off towards the faculty with no problems while Leriko stood there, watching with a smile that was interrupted by someone calling one of his many nicknames.

"Yo, ladyboy, who's mister boyfriend over there?"

"Fuck off and leave me alone." Leriko said as he looked to the concrete floor where his rather long bangs covered his eyes. He turned to face the guy that said it. The guy was large, in the bad way, and was nearly bald with small brown eyes that could barely been seen from all the fat on his cheeks, "Why should I?"

"I SAID FUCK OFF!" His sudden outburst brought lots of attention to himself that he wished he didn't have. Most people were slightly surprised by the usual quiet boys yell while the others were quite surprised, "Are you starting a fight?"

"Why not?" Leriko said as he bounced back to get some space.

"Chickening off, are ya?" Leriko didn't respond as he stood with one hand on one of his hips and the other hanging limply by his side. His balance was shifted on one foot as an intrigued crowd gathered around the two, chanting 'fight', "Well, ladyboy, you asked for a fight and you got one." The chubby guy said as he ran towards Leriko, a fist pulled back that was dodged when thrown. Leriko smirked as he planted his foot on the guy's side to send the guy to the ground with some force, "That all you got?" Leriko yelled as walked to his side and crouched down next to him. Leriko was uppercut and sent flying in the air for a second before crashing back to the ground with a loud thump. Most of the crowd cheered for the kid while Leriko sat up while wiping blood from his mouth, "Good! Good! Fantastic! You're not just a weakling!" He maniacally laughed as he stood up with a slight hunch, "Come at me again if you think that'll take me down!" He whispered while he charged at the guy to roundhouse kick him in the head that made him waver, "Oh~, are you hurt?"

"You sadistic motherfucker!" The guy yelled as he rubbed the area where he was kicked, "That kick was crappy. No experience in fighting at all."

"How do you know?"

"A gut feeling."

"Hehehe, haven't video games taught you anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"The weak and unexperienced prevail while the strong and knowing ones die!" Leriko ran up to the guy and sidestepped a punch to slide through his legs and jump up and punch him in the back of head. He stumbled forwards and fell to the ground when Leriko tripped him up onto his back, "See what I mean?" Leriko whispered as he bent down to be face to face with the guy. Leriko was head-butt fiercely but he didn't flinch or even move. He touched his forehead where he was mostly affected and maliciously stared into the guy's slightly frightened eyes as blood ran freely down his face. Leriko merely dropped his elbow as hard as he can on the guys stomach, effectively winding him of all air, "You lose." He said as he walked through the crowd and to his classroom where he was late.

_My first fight was satisfying as they all looked at me in shock at the takedown on the chubby guy. No one bothered to look at me or approach me in the slightest after that which was, in a weird way, satisfying and fun._

"Why are you late, kid?" His teacher asked as he sat at his desk.

"Problems with bullies."

"I understand."

"Of course you do!" Leriko muttered with sarcasm in his voice.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Of course. Now class, we have a new student." Much to Leriko's surprise it was Bliss who walked through the class door. She shot him a quick smile and wave as he returned the gesture while getting looks from his classmates, "Geez, is it that shocking that Leriko can get a friend?" She asked from the front of the classroom. Everyone nodded and Leriko sighed with his head supported by his hand, "Anyway, I'm Bliss. It's nice to meet you all." Everyone mumbled out a 'hey' or gave a small wave.

"Right. Bliss, you can sit next to Leriko as you seem to know him already." Bliss approached Leriko and sat next to him as the desks were conjoined in twos. The teacher began the lesson and Leriko paid no attention as he was focusing on the clouds outside with a smile full of genuine happiness.

"Leriko…Leriko…LERIKO!" He turned and looked at his teacher with a sly smile.

"Yes?"

"Answer the goddamn question."

"What was it?"

"Never mind."

"Is something wrong, Leriko?" Bliss whispered as the teacher continued with the lesson. Leriko turned towards Bliss with a small frown and he shook his head, "I don't believe you. You can tell me what's wrong." Leriko didn't answer and actually focused on the lesson while Bliss sighed and stretched her arms out in front of her. The lesson finished after an hour and a half and Leriko stood up and headed to the courtyard with Bliss watching from her seat. Some of the girls in their class came up to Bliss with disappointed expressions, "Why do you hang out with that weirdo?"

"Stop being mean to him."

"Why should I?"

"He's a nice person that only wants friends. He's a human as well, you know."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"And who came up with that?"

"I did. Because you're the new girl you will have to learn a few things. First, I'm the boss around here. When I ask you to do something you better do it or else. That's pretty much it. And don't hang out with the tranny." Bliss stood up and slapped the girl across the face as hard as she could.

"Don't call him that!" She yelled with tears starting to swell in her eyes.

"Did you just slap me? Did she just slap me?" Everyone nodded and mumbled agreements as grabbed Bliss by the collar and threw her against a desk, successfully pinning her as she gave her a glare that would kill if it could, "Remember what I said, bitch?"

"Fuck you!" Bliss yelled as she was punched in the stomach over and over until someone burst through the door and kicked the girl so hard she flew into the nearby wall.

_Before that happened I was sitting against a tree, relaxing and smiling at my luck for the day. I knew it was going to run out soon and that Bliss was going to get involved with my problems sooner or later but I didn't expect it to have had happened so soon. When I heard her yelling for some reason I hurried over to the class with an unknown feeling in my heart. It made me want to put that girl on a metal table and slowly cut her open while enjoying the sounds of her screaming. It made me frightened of myself but I accepted that feeling._

"Don't you dare hurt her…why does everyone have to take everything away from me? They can pay for that, you know? They'll only get a bit roughed up because that's the price for making me resort to this." He said with his bangs covering his eyes as he grinned maniacally which made everyone take a step back. He pounced on the unfortunate girl and punched her over and over with a large sadistic smile on his face while he laughed maniacally. He got off of her when she passed out and looked at everyone. They were terrified at what they saw, the sight of Leriko doing such a thing sparking a fire in them that made them rush Leriko as one being. Bliss stood by the door of the classroom, watching while Leriko was beat half to death with brute force. That didn't stop him though. He clawed and kicked and punched until he was overwhelmed.

_That one act changed everything. The way people viewed me, the way they treated me. Heck, everything got worse and worse every time. When I came home with black eyes and bruises all over me my mother was furious and did everything in her power to find out what happened only for me to deny her help. I regret that choice from the deepest pits of my lonely heart._

"I'm home." He mumbled as he stepped through the front door of his house where he took his shoes off and dumped his bag. He had a black eye with blood running from his mouth and bruises along his stomach, chest and limbs. No one answered in the silent home as both his parents were working. His father worked for the famous company Argus and he was stationed in Japan where he was a graphics designer for the game Sword Art Online. His mother worked at nightclub as a waitress so he was alone most of the times. He trudged through the corridors, wincing in pain every now and then as his balance shifted to one side and hurt his leg from the pressure. He was making no effort to go to the kitchen and swallow a few painkillers as he was depressed. He opened the door to his room and noticed that his clock said that it was four in the afternoon, forcing a soft sigh to escape Leriko's lips as he sat on the floor and picked up a video game console controller. He switched on the TV in front of him and started up the infamous game _Dark Souls_. He had yet to beat the game but he was determined to show the imaginary monsters and bosses that he ruled everything around him.

'_If I had this kind of resolve for a game, why don't I fight back against the bullies?'_ He chuckled as he noticed that his statement was stupid in its own special way. He played _Dark Souls _long into the night and into the morning without noticing, the lone ray of sunshine shooting through his window indicating that, "Over played again, huh?" He asked aloud as if some imaginary friend was going to answer.

"You did." He looked around for the location of the voice as it was his. The thing is that Leriko himself didn't say that. He came across his mirror and looked into it where he noticed himself with waist length white hair. He was hallucinating, surely, "Who are you?" Leriko asked the mirror to earn a very girly giggle.

"I am you and you are me. We are the same with the same corruption that's not commonplace in human's hearts."

"…Ok. What is that supposed to mean?" The mirror Leriko face palmed and sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"We're the same." Leriko had no intention of believing his hallucination and focused on a slight black shadow behind him. He jumped slightly when glowing red eyes appeared on what seemed to be a head that flickered and moved around the sunlight, "I guess I'm sort of insane now."

"Well, there are two sides to us. One is the normal us when the other one is a sadistic motherfucker that wants to cut everything up for no reason."

"That's brutal," Leriko chuckled lightly before rubbing his eyes from being tired, "And I'm being told this by a hallucination."

"It's true though. Anyway, you should sleep instead of going to school."

"That's what I was going to do." Leriko said as he walked away from his mirror to turn off his video game console and jump onto his bed. He did exactly that while being restless for a reason unknown to him. He shut his eyes and tried to sleep while occasionally shifting his position to get comfortable as he felt some sort of discomfort. He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on his breathing to immediately give up and dressed himself in some casual clothes, which consisted of jeans and a black shirt, to notice he had bags under his eyes from not sleeping a lot the past few days. He sighed and left his room to open the fridge and pull out an apple that he quickly finished and disposed of because he thought that that was a good enough breakfast for him. It was approximately seven in the morning and he smiled as he put his black chucks on. He opened the door slowly, as his mother was sleeping, and stepped out into the rising sun's rays that made him shine. He headed down his street and towards the arcade at the local shopping district that opened at seven sharp. He grinned as he found some money in his pockets that would fund his little joy trip that he was looking rather forward to. He hadn't been to the arcade for a couple months since he moved to his new school in hopes of not being harassed for his looks.

He smiled sadly as he looked towards the horizon with small tears in his eyes as he thought about his life before, _'I'll go. I'll go live with my dad in Japan where I can start over. I don't have memories here that are worth keeping.' _He continued his walk and saw a sign that said that the arcade was closed for the day. He swore to himself and walked around the malls and shops with boredom clearly shown on his face. He had nothing to occupy his time and he didn't want to go to school as he knew of the punishments that he'll receive as he has received them most days of his life and he's become quite tough because of them. He still didn't enjoy them though.

"Leriko?" A voice called from behind. Leriko turned around with a blank expression and simply put his hand up before dropping it to his side, "Are you okay?" It was Bliss and she was worried for the boy in front of her.

"Yeah." His voice was monotone as he showed no expression to the girl.

"Why aren't you at school?"

"Why aren't you?"

"Touché."

"Let's go then." Leriko grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her towards his place. School was starting in a few minutes and Leriko had to get dressed. Bliss was already in her uniform and she was confused as the way Leriko was dragging her wasn't the way towards the school grounds, "I'm getting my uniform. I'll be back in a few seconds." He said as they reached his place. Leriko entered his house while Bliss stood idly out the front, waiting intently for Leriko as he soon emerged in his uniform. They sprint to the school and arrived fifteen minutes late, much to the whole class' suspicion as they arrived together. They sat down in their seats and the day finished without problems. With the exception of Leriko falling asleep halfway through the day. He awoke at evening, the last of the sun slowly sinking below the horizon once more as eyes spilt into the classroom and into the boy's eyes.

He stood up and grabbed his bag, sluggishly droning through the corridors and out into the nearby corridor to sneeze quite loudly, "Look who decided to show up!" A voice called from around a corner. A gang of lanky delinquents appeared with various weapons that ranged from very thick tree branches to metal bats and chains. Leriko felt no emotions relating to fear or sadness as he stared them down silently, his newly found sharp gaze and expressionless face bringing some type of fright into their hearts, "What do you want?" He finally asked as he closed his eyes and cracked his neck rather loudly, _'That's a habit I should break. Not that it matters right now.'_

"What _do _we want?"

"I don't know. And why are you carrying around those toys?"

"Toys? Just what are you thinking right now?"

"That's for you to find out."

"Being cryptic now, are we?"

"There's no time like the present."

"Very smart, young one." Leriko cracked a smile small while he put his hands in his pockets.

"Being the master are we?"

"Someone has to be the leader."

"Two heads are better than one."

"If that isn't obvious enough."

"Well, sometimes the common are uncommon."

"And what does that mean." The boy, who appeared to be the leader stepped forward with a grin on his face. His hair was a ginger colour and it spiked upwards, "Think about it." Leriko said as he met the boy halfway, grabbing an outstretched hand, "Leriko."

"Seth."

"Nice to meet you."

"You too, man."

"Finally! Someone that realises my gender." Leriko said while smiling. Seth chuckled while the delinquent side looked on in anger and confusion.

"Hey, boss! What are you doing with _it_?" One of them called out with a scowl on their face. Leriko looked at the person that called that out with cold stare that seemed to coming from an iceberg itself. With the feeling of slight regret, the boy stepped back with an apologetic frown on his face, "Well, he's my friend. Leave if you don't like it." Almost instantly, the rest of the delinquents vanished around corners and through doorways with sour expressions on their face, "Then there was two." Seth said as he sighed happily.

"Actually, there's three of us." Bliss said with a stoic expression on her face, disappointed from being forgotten.

"Don't worry, we didn't forget about you." Leriko said as Seth strode over to Bliss with a carefree confidence showing in the way he walked.

"And who might you be, young lady?"

"I'm Bliss and, ugh, it's nice to meet you?" Leriko sweat dropped as he saw Seth lying on his side crying while pounding the ground with one fist. Bliss was confused and took a half step backwards due to a sudden conviction that Seth might be getting a free show, "Something wrong?"

"You said it as a question." He cried as he lay there rather comically.

"Um, wanna do something fun?" Leriko asked as he sighed while smile.

"Heck yeah! Let's go play some video games!" Seth jumped up onto his feet with a wide grin that seemed too bright for the comical situation.

"Let's go then." They set off out the school and towards the local arcade.

_For once. Just that once. I had friends and it was a nice feeling. How I meet my dear friend Seth was quite weird but it was cool. He's a nice person. But fate had other things in store for us and I wanted to go up into the heavens and tear out whatever higher being is living there throat out. If that made sense._

They were in the arcade, happily using their money on rather fun games that two of them knew all too well. Seth achieved the highest score on one of the games and entered a name that made Leriko's eyebrow arch, "Saito? How did you get that name?"

"Heard of the wonderful place called Japan?"

"All too much. I was considering living there with my dad since he lives there."

"Sweet. I really want to go."

"Ask your parents or something. They'll work something out."

"Heh, they're tight on money."

"That's sad."

"It's getting dark. Reckon we should go?" Bliss called from behind as she looked out a window.

"What's the time?" Leriko asked as he also looked out a window.

"Six thirty?" Saito responded with a rather carefree shrug.

"Shit. I gotta get home." Leriko muttered as he picked up his bag and waited for a response from his two companions.

"Same." They both said at the same time. They exited the rather small building and walked along the streets, passing apartment buildings and offices as they went. Since destiny and fate were a pain in the ass, they decided to place a random squad of sex fiends in an alley nearby, "Hey. Stop there kiddies." They were all reading hoods or masks or anything that would cover their identity.

"Sorry, we gotta get home." Saito said as they continued walking through the streets. Strange enough, there wasn't any cars on the streets and some of the street lights were broken. They must have taken a wrong turn, "Lucky bastard." One of them said. Saito stopped at that and turned around rather quickly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You've got two pretty ladies wrapped around your finger."

"I'm fucking done. SO FUCKING DONE WITH THIS BULLSHIT!" Leriko yelled as he walked up to the group to punch one straight in the face. He was knocked out and the rest of the group, which was six people excluding the unconscious man, prepared to fight. Leriko heard Seth talking to Bliss about something as he received a punch to the face that knocked him to the ground, "Oh, for fucks sake, Leriko!" Seth yelled as he kicked the man that punched Leriko to the ground, "Up you get!" Leriko was lifted to his feet and he charged back into the action. Sadly, this was a battle they knew that they may not win. They didn't notice one guy slipping away and over to Bliss. He grabbed her and put a knife to her neck while he fondled her assets.

The two boys didn't notice as they were too wrapped up trying to not get beaten half to death. They finally noticed when they heard a scream from behind and Seth yelled out, "OH, YOU JUST DID NOT!" Which was a mistake as he diverted his attention and got beaten to the ground, just like Leriko had. They could only watch as she was being, in lighter terms, sexually assaulted. Leriko took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, not wanting to watch what was happening as Bliss cried for help. Suddenly, Leriko was poked in the side by something and he looked at that area to see a pocket knife lying next to him. He picked it up, flicked the blade out and sharpened his gaze as he took a deep breath.

"GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER!" He screamed as he charged at the guy with the knife in a prepared thrusting position.

"STAY AWAY OR I'LL KILL HER!" The guy yelled as he pressed the blade against Bliss' neck.

'_This moment counts. My whole life depends on this.' _Leriko thought as he lifted the blade in the air and pulled it back.

"YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" Leriko yelled as he threw the knife towards the guy. The guy tried using Bliss as a shield but failed as the blade went straight into his head.

"Nice shot, Leriko!" Saito yelled as the guy crumpled to the floor, pushing Bliss with his last action as she lost her balance and fell onto the road, "LERIKO! FUCKING HURRY AND SAVE HER!" A car was speeding down the road and it didn't notice the girl that had fallen over. Leriko sprinted towards her but screamed as he saw it run over her.

_I just…cried. For days on end. She stopped moving and she had a feint pulse. The ambulance arrived and took her and the other gang members to the hospital. I nearly killed the rest of those guys and if it wasn't for Seth, they would've been killed. Bliss' parents told me that she had died. I don't know how they found me, but they did. And it was all my fault that she died…_

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><p><strong>Sorry for not uploading in a while. I had trouble coming up with a good backstory and it ended up being 5K words. For now, Kuro's backstory won't be explored but it will in later chapters, bit by bit. Sorry if I disappointed you but this took me a lot of time for ideas etc. etc. and I got the game Destiny to play around with. It's great and I think you should try it. And do you like the way I did this chapter? If so, please tell me!<strong>

**There'll be a major plot device coming up as we jump straight back into the action with something happening to them. And yes, it involves Hikari. That's all for now and I'm really sorry for disappointing you. Next chapter'll be 10K words like the rest, so stay tuned!**


	4. Leriko's Reminiscence

**Quick thing to start. This chapter may be confusing because of the large time skip, but don't worry. It follows Leriko (mostly) and he's lost his memories so that explains the whole about this chapter and why things don't make sense at ALL. They will later on though, so patience. His memories, when triggered, will be written in throughout the story. That is all for now.**

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><p>4<p>

"I am sorry, but I must do this."

"What do you mean, 'must do this'?"

"It'll all make sense in time."

"What's with this bullshit!?"

"It does not matter, as you are our 'Final Judgement'. The one that wasn't meant to be."

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><p>Darkness…so mellow in the cavernous plains of the mind. Comforting for the passed. Oh darkness, why are you so frightening?<p>

If monsters reside in the deepest depths of you, where would you hide? The comfort everyone offers you has long since passed.

All alone, this demon plays, the same depressing tune all day. He wanders the field, no sword or shield as many fall around him.

Oh darkness, the nothingness that fills the dream, what has cursed this young boy?

No one will ever know, as time had seemed to slow…oh darkness, who chose you for power?

Lying there, with his long white hair, simply staring at the sky that passed him.

He was the one that would bring us fear, his attire powerful like a spear.

The demons shall hide, as his happiness had reside, anger filling the empty boy.

Oh darkness…what are they ever to do…?

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><p>The sky…dark like midnight. The moon…white like pure innocence. Two different faces of a lonely person that yearned for friendship and love. Had he gazed into the darkness, he would've found corruption and madness. But he was drawn to the moon, his innocence and sadness portrayed in the sky. As the sun dawned upon the horizon, he stood up and walked away from the dangerous ledge, hopes and dreams of the people he knew pushing him on towards the horizon of victory. He smiled lightly as the comforting warmth of the sun enveloped him as if it were trying to say, 'Everything's alright. They forgive for what you had done. Especially her, she loved you. So carry on and fight for them.'<p>

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><p>He opened his eyes, blades of grass tickling his skin as he looked up into the sky. Had he known that his friend was going to do what he did for them to live on, he would've happily taken his place. His life was to short and fragile to give it up like that. When that last second ticked on the clock of destiny, he watched as horror threatened to overflow and evolve into rage. But it happened and he had passed, his final words making tears run down his face, "See…I got this…"<p>

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><p>The dream that loved the nothingness sat there against a tree on a cliff. No emotion was known as she was a void of depression. The sun was setting as another lonely night had risen, words playing through her head, 'I can't die just yet…it's because I love you. This damn forsaken place is filled with depression and hatred, two emotions that overrule all. If I die…I want to see you die with a smile that will bring me happiness in the next life. So please, don't cry.'<p>

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><p>A scythe was planted in the ground by the blade, blood pooling onto the floor. The brown haired person was lying next to it as he sighed, no memories filling his mind. He didn't know his name or other essential things, and others were not present, <em>'Amnesia. A term for memory loss.' <em>He somehow knew that as he basked in the sunlight. He sat up with a small frown as blood ran freely from a deep cut in his arm, a light sting reminding him of its presence when he moved the arm to push himself into a crouch. He stood up instead, dizziness and nausea forcing him to sit back down. He looked at his clothing that made him raise an eyebrow anxiously. He was wearing some sort of black hoodie that had cuts in them that revealed pale, white skin and a crimson liquid that seeped out of the cuts. He had a black cloth that was ragged and slightly torn on his legs with bare feet sticking out from them.

'_What exactly happened? I can only wonder.' _He took a deep breath and stood up slowly while wind pressed against him. He managed to stand up with a slight dizziness but he didn't pay any attention to it as he looked at the scythe. It was fully black with silver edgings and blood seemed to come out of the blade, pressing for a sort of depressed feeling. He pulled it out of the ground and it seemed natural to him, like he's had this weapon for a long time. He looked down a dirt path and saw a village with people milling about, doing their own thing as time passed them.

The path was tedious as wolves and other animals attacked him, trying to harm him and kill him. He was having none of that though, slicing across the animals with his scythe as they died in pools of blood. He soldiered on through the times he was bit or scratched, the pain hindering his speed. The village was close now and he frowned when he saw a lot of people with swords and other weapons.

"There's a boss meeting today, man. We gotta go see this." He overheard that from a pair of people and followed behind them with his scythe held beside him in one hand. They eventually stopped at an amphitheatre where other players were sitting down on large blocks of concrete that formed a steep pair of stairs. The pair the boy had been following sat down and started talking while they waited for something or someone, prompting their follower to sit by himself in the shadows of a large pillar by himself, blending in perfectly with the shadows. He closed his eyes and crossed his legs, drowning out all sound as he breathed quietly.

He heard talking, shouting and footsteps of people leaving the amphitheatre, prompting the boy to open his eyes. He saw a blue headed person approaching him with a smile gracing his features as he stopped in front of him, "Can I help you?" The boy asked the blue headed man quietly as he closed his eyes once more.

"I noticed you sitting here by yourself for the whole meeting. I was just wondering, are you in a party at the moment?" The man was polite and looked down at the boy in interest, mostly because of the blood and scratches on him.

"Party…" The boy muttered as he thought about it.

"You know, a group of players fighting together."

"No, I am not."

"Do you want to join mine?" The boy did not respond as the man was moving his fingers in the air, stopping suddenly as he looked down at the boy in surprise and shock, "You're not a player?"

"Player…I don't remember anything so I cannot answer that question." The man looked down at the boy that had opened both eyes and looked into his, waiting for the man to do something, "If that is all, could you please leave?"

"Okay. But one thing. Are you attending the raid tomorrow?" The boy stood up and cracked his neck as if he was running on his instincts before picking up his scythe to allow a single drop of blood to fall from the tip of the blade, "Blood will be spilt from both sides."

xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx

As he lay on the branch of a tree in silence, he stared up at the moon with a smile forming ever so slowly. For some reason, he feels happy and fulfilled and he felt the need to come here, "Hey…do you know what happened to me?" He asked the moon as he held his arm over his eyes. As if he got a reply, he chuckled, "Of course you don't." He could hear the monsters around him and he sighed when he felt his eyelids get heavy. The moon was comforting as stars danced around it, twinkling while doing so.

A laugh of solace echoed in the trees as the boy dropped from the branch and into the darkness below…

xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx

He awoke to the sound of several footsteps marching past him, making his eyes forcefully jolt open. He slept inside a hollowed out tree trunk with his scythe wedged between the entrance to protect him from monsters and other people. He pushed his scythe out of the entrance and crawled out, yawning with half-open eyes in the process. He stood up and put a hand on the tree to stop himself from stumbling while watching a group of fifty or so people walking through the forest. What seemed strange to him though, was that they were walking in groups.

The boy followed behind and looked up a giant tower in front of them that just _screamed _danger. Everyone present walked into a cave and up some stairs, slaying the occasional monster in the almost pitch black darkness. After an hour so, they came across a large, steel door that had intricate carvings and an abnormal sign of despair etched it. He looked at it in silence as he heard people talking, along with yells and cheers that were followed by the opening of the door. The boy calmly walked in and flinched slightly when his feet touched the freezing cold floor that was made from a stone. The room suddenly lit up in a kaleidoscope of colours and a giant red canine-looking monster jumped from a throne and near the raid group, drawing a large sword and a buckler while several minions appeared near him.

The boy tilted his head slightly while watching the minions get slayed by groups of two to three people while the others attacked the large monster, strategically jumping in and out of the battle for a reason unknown to him. He watched in confusion as everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the larger monster draw a sword with the blade jutting into a fork while throwing his buckler away. Suddenly, the blue haired man from the day before ran at it while smirking at someone, that particular someone being a young boy with black hair. The black headed person yelled at him to jump back as fast as he can but he didn't listen, receiving a strike across the chest that sent him flying into the air to be defenceless against another strike that inevitably ended his life.

After the black haired person tried to give him a red liquid, the blue headed person exploded into multiple blue polygons that flittered around the air, fascinating the scythe wielder as he tried catching one that came towards him. He was oblivious at what was happening as he stared at the polygon in curiosity, tapping it to make it shatter into smaller ones that quickly disappeared. It was then that the room dimmed back into its original light, the cheering and happiness of the surviving players echoing into the chamber.

"Why'd you do it? Why'd you let Diabel die?" The scythe wielder snapped his focus to an orange haired man that was on the floor with tears in his eye. The boy watched in confusion as the black haired boy suddenly started laughing like a maniac to then walk through a crowd and equip a midnight black coat with white linings on the sleeves and edges with a small chest plate on his left breast.

"Beater…I like it. Don't get me confused with those newbies anymore." The black headed person said in the middle of insults and dirty comments to shock everyone, excluding the scythe wielder. The scythe wielder tilted his head once more and watched as the orange haired person pointed at him, "And you! Why didn't you help!? It's your fault Diabel died!"

"My fault…? Diabel?" The scythe wielder asked as murmurs could be heard throughout the crowd of gathered people. The orange haired person drew a sword and attempted to harm the scythe wielder, only for the scythe wielder to step aside from the glowing blade and hit him as hard as he could in the stomach with the snath of the scythe.

"Why you...I challenge you to a duel!" Suddenly, the room dimmed to pitch black and the dripping of some liquid could be heard. The scythe wielder was surrounded by a white glow as he formed an eccentric gold mirror out of thin air, peering into it with wonder as he saw his body change. He used to have short brown hair and small blue eyes that sat upon a very masculine face. They were replaced by silky white hair that ran waist length with large blue eyes that were filled with innocence as they complimented his feminine face. His body, slightly muscular on tanned skin with no curves and a little fat, was replaced by ghastly pale skin and an elegant body that was as equally feminine as his face.

Various men in the darkness commented on how beautiful he was as the mirror vanished, darkness slowly overcoming the light that surrounded the boy. Suddenly, his scythe started glowing red while he clutched his head with his free hand, gasps of pain quickly erupting from his mouth and nose. Suddenly, he screamed and fell to his knees with both hands clutching his head in excruciating pain while everyone wondered what was going on. The world around the boy slowly started to crack to smash into little fragments of glass while he felt himself crying tears of blood.

Then everything was quiet and the room lit back up, minus the scythe wielder being in the room, "Where did he go?" One of the people asked while everyone was silent, thinking the very same question and more.

The boy looked up into a sun and he squinted, trying to make out a faint outline in the middle of it, "You died as well, huh?" The boy lowered his head and saw the blue haired man sitting on the edge of a nearly transparent platform that was floating miles above a floating metal cone structure.

"What do you mean by that?" The boy asked as he sat next to the man with a small frown on his face.

"Did you get murdered by anyone or anything?" The boy shook his head and looked at the clouds that were idly floating around them, "Then how did you get here?" The boy shrugged and felt a stinging pain in his head once more while his scythe started to glow a crimson red.

'_You are our Final Judgement…the one that wasn't meant to be.'_

The boy screamed again as that memory flooded into his head with another wave of excruciating pain, "I guess your time's up, huh?" The blue haired person asked with a stoic face, not attempting to fix the situation. Suddenly, the scythe was picked up by a giant, cloaked figure that had red eyes peering out of the darkness where a face should be, towering over the boy while floating in the air. The boy choked out some restrained words that he didn't want to say, "Fi…nal…judge…ment…"

"**Your time is up…mortal. May you find peace in the grave?" **The cloaked figure said grimly and excitedly with its voice being deep and soul shaking, frightening the blue haired person as he backed away from the approaching figure. The scythe it held glow a kaleidoscope of colours before he swung it down and sliced the man in two, the body fading away into green snow-like particles while blood had run away from his body and onto scythe with splatters being made on the platform.

The boy stopped screaming in pain as the figure disappeared when the wind blowed once more, the figure disappearing into some rose petals. The boy approached the petals and picked one up gently as if it was the only thing keeping him alive. He placed it down where the man had disappeared, a red fog emitting out of it as the wind blew against it, "May you find peace in the grave…" The boy whispered with a sad tone of voice. He sighed and walked into a cloud on the platform, never to be seen until he is needed once more…

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><p>A sword struck into the ground in the middle of a field while a girl fell after it, unconscious and breathing in the middle of the night. She landed with a cloud of dust and the sound of an explosion, worrying some nearby people. She immediately shot her eyes open and then closed them as she slowly breathed in some air, her mind trying to not think about what had happened the few weeks of her life that had just passed.<p>

She fought in her mind against the raging memories that were trying to trying to torrent into her at full force. She stood up and picked up the sword near her, the last thing he ever gave her. She began to break down on the very spot, recalling how it all happened.

_They were fighting the large mini-boss, their HP slowly draining from a very low poison effect. Leriko cursed as his scythe he was using snapped in two from the amount of force that was pushed against it. He had managed to jump back and avoid the slash, but at a price. It was headed towards his best friend Saito that was struggling against some minions, unsuspecting the oncoming swing that would kill him. Leriko ran towards him and shoved him out of the way, taking the brunt of three powerful attacks at once, successfully depleting his HP. Shortly after, with a huge grin on his face, he whispered, "See…I got this…" Before his body went limp and quickly became cold from the loss of blood that was coming from the large gash across his chest._

"Why'd you have to do it…you idiot." She whispered as she stared up at the stars with tears running down her face and onto the dirt below her.

"Are you ok, miss?" A gentle yet concerned voice asked from behind her.

"Please…leave me be…"

"Are you sure?" The voice asked again from behind her.

"JUST LEAVE ME BE!" The girl shouted as loud as she could, startling the person that was behind her, "…I'm sorry…I'm just… emotionally unstable at the minute…"

"I understand. I mean, anyone would be at what has happened this past month. Anyway, what's your name?" The girl looked behind her to stare straight into the other person's soul, questioning on whether or not she should trust them. The person though, looked completely friendly as she had a small smile on her face with blue-green eyes with long crimson hair that was tied up into a ponytail with a black ribbon. She had a red shirt on with black pants that covered part of the black boots she was wearing. She had two red arm guards on her individual arms and she appeared to be wielding a dagger.

"My name...its Sakura." Sakura stared up at the girl blankly, waiting for a response in the dark fields where a few monsters were roaming aimlessly.

"I'm Skarlett." Skarlett held a hand out that was hesitantly grabbed by Sakura, the latter being pulled up off the ground and into a hug, "It's nice to meet you."

"…You too."

"Let's head back to town, shall we?" Sakura nodded slowly as she was lead through the grassy fields, looking into the sky with her hands in her pockets. They passed several boar and wolf monsters and came upon a large brick wall with a gate swung wide open, inviting anyone that wanted to enter and pass freely. They continued walking, passing by multiple humans, NPC store vendors and the occasional couple having their own special time in the safe zone. Sakura sighed sadly as she recalled when Leriko confessed to her, no matter how much her heart hurt from the pain it brought along with it.

'_Sakura, it doesn't matter, okay? You're alive and living here, in Aincrad where your past doesn't matter.'_

'_How could you say that to a monster like me?' Sakura was tearing up at the unconditional friendship the boy in front of her was displaying with his heart._

'_It's because…it's because I love you, okay!?' Leriko wrapped her in a hug while she was shell-shocked from his sudden statement, 'So don't call yourself a monster, okay? You're a human, living and breathing like me, right here in Aincrad.' Sakura released a damn of tears against Leriko's neck and shoulder as she hugged him tighter, wanting to believe that the love was real._

"Sakura, you okay?" Skarlett waved a hand in front of Sakura's hand and Sakura caught it while silently letting tears run down her face.

"Please…don't leave like he did…" Was the only thing that came from the heartbroken girl in an almost silent whisper.

"I promise. Cross my heart and swear to die!" Sakura, although hesitant at first, suddenly jumped at Skarlett and hugged her tightly, prompting the girl to squeak in surprise before she rubbed the girl's back softly, "It is okay…I'm sure he's fine wherever he may be."

"…Thank you…thank you so much…"

"You shouldn't be thanking me. It's common knowledge among people."

"I guess you're right." Sakura pulled back and rubbed her eyes before they continued to walk in the direction of an inn.

"I'm not trying to pry, but is there anyone else that you know." Sakura stopped in her tracks and looked down at the floor to try and hide the guilt that was sparkling on her eyes, trying to escape and tell everyone how much of a bad person she is.

"There is…well, was. After my friend…died, he went berserk and was furious. He ran off to never be seen again and he deleted me from his friends list so I can't contact him."

"…sorry for asking."

"It's okay. It's not your fault." Sakura said with a sigh as they entered the lively building. Everyone present was cheering over the sudden victory on the first floor boss and they were drinking alcoholic beverages, even if they didn't make them drunk. The pair of girls sat down at a corner table and looked out a window into the night as fiery torches raged on in the inside of the building. It was lively inside and the couple didn't mind, they just wanted some peace and quiet to set their minds straight, "Want something to eat?" Skarlett asked sotto voce, her head resting on a balled fist.

"I'm fine thanks."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. I'm going to head upstairs then and rest. I'll see you in the morning. But first,"

_Skarlett wants to add you to his/her friends list. Accept?_

Having been lonely for the past week, she quickly accepted and muttered a 'good night' to her new friend as she headed upstairs. When she was out of sight, Sakura sighed and rest her head on the table as she tried to sort out her mind.

'_Hey, guys, wanna go on another adventure?' Leriko asked cheerily as he smiled smugly._

'_Why not? We have nothing better to do and I wonder what'll happen this time.' Saito responded after a sigh, running his gloved hand through his hair as he walked over to where Leriko and Sakura were sitting._

'_What about you, Sakura?' He asked as Leriko looked at her with some adorable puppy eyes that made her fall into the temptation._

'_Fine.'_

'_Yes!' Leriko shouted as he jumped from his seat._

"Some adventure that was." Sakura mumbled incoherently in her own little world as she ignored the next person walking into the inn. In a surprised yelp of surprise, the person turned around and quickly left the inn as Sakura looked up to get a short glimpse of the person.

"Saito! Wait up!" She yelled as she ran after him, managing to make him turn around and stop.

"What do you want?" Sakura recoiled as she heard the amount of pain and venom in his voice while his eyes demonstrated a strong desire to kill someone.

"I wanted to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about!" Sakura flinched from the tone he used and looked to the floor with tears in her eyes, hurt that her friend could be so mean to her.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered as she heard the footsteps of Saito storming off with an angered expression, a cold and harsh glare coming to anyone's eyes that had even the quickest glance at him. Sakura dropped to her knees and lifted her head to the sky while softly and half-heartedly laughing maniacally.

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><p>'<em>I'm such a fucking idiot. Why did I even say that?' <em>Saito sat at the base of a tree and softly face palmed himself when he calmed down, _'I get so freaking angry. It's my fault he died so I should be angry at myself.' _Saito sighed and manipulated his menu, looking at the latest message Leriko had sent him.

'_Hey, man, what are you up to right now? Wanna do something if you're free?'_

Looking down upon the town with a blank expression, Saito stood up on the branch and closed his eye, arms down to the side while he breathed slowly. He stepped off the tree and caught a branch that carried his momentum so he went flying the distance. He did a combat roll and followed through with the momentum while activating the sprint skill, creating a small crater where he jumped from while a loud explosion of the sound of wind moving with the wind hazardously flying in all directions.

Stopping with a heel slide that lasted for meters with added smoke, Saito manipulated his menu once more and equipped a ragged red cloak that had tears throughout the bottom. He pulled his hood up as he walked, hoping to not be seen by anyone that knows him or anyone that, by some strange phenomenon, randomly attacks him or challenges him to a duel. He entered the town again with the hood covering his features as he opened the door to a restaurant to then take a seat in a corner.

A maid came over with a notepad and what seemed to be a pen or pencil, "Can I take you order?"

"What do you have?"

"Have a look at our menu and I'll be back in a few minutes." With a small press of her fingers, a menu appeared with several dishes and beverages, most unappealing. He ordered a simple stake and ate it while sorting out several conflicts that were going on in his mind. He finished and leant back on his chair with his eyes shut, contemplating on whether or not he should go to the recently opened second floor. He decided on going and stood up, placing the required payment on the table before leaving the restaurant to head to the teleport gate.

Looking at his map while standing in front of the stone platform, he hesitantly stepped on and turned around, "Teleport Urbus!" He was consumed in a blue light that made him feel all numb for a few seconds before he could see again. What he saw made him regret ever thinking of coming to Urbus.

"Hey, Saito."

"Sakura, what do you want?" Sakura was leaning on the wall of a building that was in front of the teleport gate, her fuchsia her covering her eyes as she stared at the floor.

"I wanted to talk. I know you're angry and that you don't mean the things that you say and do."

"Well, there's nothing to talk about." Saito turned to walk away but stopped, frozen on the spot when a freezing cold hand grabbed him by the elbow.

"Please…don't leave me alone like he did." It came out as a hoarse whisper that made the ginger haired boy shudder while he slowly turned around while he claimed his arm back.

"I know you're sad about what happened…it's all my fault that he died and I blame myself for it." Saito was on the brink of releasing all the emotions he had bottled up right then but stopped when he realised something.

"_Can I come, you guys?" Sakura asked as Saito and Leriko were preparing to head out into the field._

"_Okay, I don't have a problem with that."_

"Sakura...you've been following him around like a lost puppy for the past month…you need to stop it. I won't take his place because I never can because I'm not him."

"Saito…" Sakura whispered while the boy she was relying on for comfort abruptly walked off from their conversation and into the darkness, "…wait for me."

* * *

><p>He sat up and looked at the bed he was in, confused as to why he was here. The last thing he remembered was being in a giant room with a kaleidoscope of colours.<p>

_Leriko_

"Leriko? Who is that?" The boy muttered as he took in his surroundings. The room was fairly small, the majority made of wood with a small cupboard hiding in the corner across from him with a door beside him. He got out of the bed and opened the door that lead to a hallway with a staircase at the end. He followed it and walked down the flight of stairs to see a door that, much to his amusement, led him to freedom.

He stepped out into the crisp, cold night air of a mountain range and looked down at the rocky and hilly terrain that stretched as far as the eye could see, "Ah, so you are awake, young one," The boy turned on the spot and saw a middle-aged man that was well-built with a head of brown hair and brown eyes accompanying them, "I was quite worried when I found you collapsed nearby. If you're wondering where your weapon is, it's fine. I have hidden it inside my hut. I won't give it back though, well, not until you master the skill of martial arts."

"Martial arts?"

"Ah, I forgot that your generation does not use their hands for fighting. Martial arts is the art of hand-to-hand combat for various reasons. Whether it be self-defence, competition, physical health or even just because you want to hurt someone, it's a really useful skill. Now, young one, what is your name?"

"My name…it's Leriko?" The man put a hand to his chin and observed the boy in amusement before clapping his hands together to make an echo in the area.

"You sound unsure about that. Are you sure your name is Leriko?"

"Yes. I am sure."

"Well then, let's start your training. First, I'll observe what you know about martial arts," The man clicked his fingers and three ninja-like mobs came out in a puff of smoke, "You will be fighting these ninja."

All at once, the three ninja charged at him and did different moves each. Much to the man's shock, the boy who named himself Leriko had dodged each attack in one swift movement with the addition of him getting some distance between them, "So you know something, young one. Interesting."

"I didn't do anything. I just…moved. Like it felt natural or something."

"Ohoho, step it up boys."

"Yes, sensei." One of the ninjas said before he disappeared in a puff of smoke for Leriko to suddenly collapse to the ground.

"Well, you have something's to learn, young one. What style would you prefer? Ninjutsu, taijutsu, Kung Fu, Taekwondo, jujitsu or all of them?"

"I thought there'd be more, like Karate or something."

"Karate's for idiots. Now pick before I throw you off the mountain so you have to come back up here."

"All of them." Leriko said with a rather sly smile.

"Oh, are you sure? If we do that, it'll take a while and you won't get any breaks apart from the three meals."

"Let's tango."

xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx

It had only been a few hours and Leriko had already collapsed from the literal drilling of basic stances in his head, "Come on, young one, I'll throw you off the mountain and you won't get breakfast." It was about midnight and the moon illuminated most parts of their training area with minor shadows for the stealth part of their training, "How about we play a game. You start from all the way over there," The man, who had revealed his named to be Ash, pointed at a rock that was five hundred meters way, "and you have to try and tap me without me or my assistants spotting you or hearing you."

His ninja lackeys reappeared and nodded at Leriko, one of them helping him up to then throw over to the aforementioned rock that he needed to start at, "Ready, young one? Three…two…one…start!" Leriko sprinted as quietly as he could into the shadows of a boulder and saw that one of the ninjas was missing, _'Where could he be?' _He closed his eyes and blocked out all sound with the exception of footsteps, solely focusing on that one sound, _'There he is! He's about twenty meters to my right diagonal.'_

Leriko crouched and moved forward, making sure to keep his footsteps light and to not kick any rocks in the area. One of the other ninjas moved, advancing quickly towards his location. On a fast reaction, Leriko picked up a pebble and threw it as hard and far as he could away from him. With a loud echo, the two ninja advanced towards it, _'What idiots.' _He thought as he started sprinting towards Ash until he felt a hand on his shoulder, "Rule number one, don't let the enemy see you. Also, don't run out in the open like an idiot." The third ninja he didn't account for, although the ninja was wise and fast.

"Didn't think you'd notice since you were facing away from me."

"That's because I was tricking you. And nice job finding the first one of us with one of the advanced ninja technique, Sound Select."

"That's its name?"

"I know you're thinking that it is lame, however, it's all about mastering the technique. Not worrying about how stupid the name is."

"Good job, young one. You got quite far. About one hundred meters I'd say." Ash approached them while slowly clapping his hands.

"Yes, he forgot about me."

"Hmmm, young one, you're bleeding."

"Huh? Where?"

"Your palms. And why is the blood the colour sakura."

_Sakura._

Leriko grabbed his head as an intense pain found its way into his mind when he heard that, the picture of a fuchsia haired girl flitting in and out of his mind while he grunted in pain. It was like a damn gate had opened for him. Various small pieces of memories with this girl called Sakura in it flowed into his mind while he writhed on the floor while screaming, "Young one, are you okay!?" Ash was doing everything in his and his ninja's power to hold the boy down but he proved to be too strong as he was kicking and screaming while saying one word, "SAKURA!"

* * *

><p>"SAKURA!" The girl turned towards the source of the noise and stared up at a giant mountain in confusion.<p>

"Who is that?" She all but muttered as she continuously heard the screaming and yelling coming from the mountain. It caught everyone's attention, even the NPC's who usually stood still and did nothing, "He's awakening!" An elderly NPC yelled while he hurried to close up shop like every other store vendor.

"Who's awakening!?" Sakura yelled at him while he paid no attention to her. A roar came from the mountain that was closely followed by an explosion and some pulses of darkness that no one else but Sakura could see as they were talking about the explosion and nothing else.

'_Sakura…please save me…'_

"What?"

'_Please…there isn't much time left…'_

"What are you talking about?" She didn't get a response so she used her sprint skill to get to the mountain as fast as she could. A small beep could be heard as she hurried out of the town and into the rocky terrain. A message.

_Sakura, where the hell are you!?_

She ignored the message from Skarlett and continued sprinting, only to be jerked to a stop by a black clothed person, "Leave this area."

"Why!?"

"It's dangerous. My sensei told me, so go if you don't want to die!"

"I NEED TO GO UP THERE NOW!" The ground started quaking and small fissures appeared in the ground as the figure drew a katana and pointed it at her.

"Leave." The mountain started to collapse until a very loud yell could be heard from the mountain top that was followed by what sounded to be a slap.

"SNAP OUT OF IT, YOUNG ONE!"

Everything stopped. The world turned dark and Sakura was consumed by it.

xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx

She had a headache but she thought that it didn't matter at the moment. She opened her eyes and saw a blurred and faded image of Leriko walking away with his scythe leaning on his shoulders, "LERIKO!" He stopped and glanced over his shoulder with a blank expression, never directly looking at the girl in front of him.

"Who…just who am I?"

"You? You're Leriko." Sakura was slightly confused at the conversation but she shrugged it off as they kept talking.

"If I'm Leriko, who are you?"

"I'm Sakura."

"Come. You must follow me." They started walking through the darkness with Sakura walking behind Leriko.

"Where are we going?" No response. Just the darkness and the sound of their footsteps stepping on nothing. They were approaching a bright, crimson light that swirled and danced around them in the darkness while they walked, a bright white door with intricate carvings and a complex design made of pure gold that stopped them in their tracks, "Enter."

The door swung open into a pure white room with a lonely boy sitting in the middle of it, his long white hair cascading down his back as he openly wept, "Leriko?" He turned towards her and leapt at her, wrapping her in a bone crushing hug as she stood startled, "Leriko?"

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…I can't do anything about it…they trapped me in here and I can't escape…please save me…Sakura…" It was Sakura's turn to embrace him tightly as she cried with him.

"What can I do to save you?"

"Find him. Find him and kill him." The room was slowly shifting and changing as the crimson light seeped into the room and wrapped Sakura up in a changing warm crimson light that dripped with emotions, "I'll do it. I promise." It encased the room in a purple glow and abruptly stopped, Sakura no longer in the place she was in before. Leriko fell to the ground and punched it until his knuckles bled, "KAYABA…! WHEN I FIND YOU, YOU WILL REGRET TRAPPING ME IN HERE YOU BASTARD! I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR HEAD OFF AND FEED IT TO THE MONSTERS! KAYABA! YOU HEAR ME!?"

xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx xXxXxXxXx

Crimson. It consumed her and changed her. For the better or for the worse, she couldn't tell. Her broadsword shone as she stood before him. She doesn't know how she got there, but she did, "You know, you should release him."

"He's unstable at the moment."

"And it's your fault, Kayaba."

"He's missing memories because he's unstable."

"HE'S UNSTABLE BECAUSE YOU LOCKED HIM IN A CAGE!"

"If I release him, he'll destroy Aincrad and everyone in it!"

"It doesn't matter."

"In the end, we're all monsters, aren't we?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You shall know in time as you are The Decider."

"What is 'The Decider'?"

"It will be known in time."

"We don't have any time! Leriko's losing who he really is and I'm standing here doing nothing!"

"It's better if he's locked up!"

"IT IS NOT!"

"JUST LISTEN TO ME FOR A SECOND! He became unstable the moment he saw that Saito was going to die. When he took the blow for him, he died and lost all the memories important to him before that event happened! If we release him now, he'll forget everything because his memories are running around Aincrad!"

"JUST RELEASE HIM GODDAMMIT! YOU'RE CAUSING HIM PAIN THAT HE CAN'T HANDLE!"

"I'm sorry that I have to do this, but you just won't listen to me." Sakura crumpled to the floor, unable to move the slightest as a paralysis effect was put on her.

"LET ME GO!"

"YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME!"

"NO! I MADE A PROMISE TO HIM AND I PLAN ON KEEPING IT!" She moved her arm and pushed herself up off the floor, "He's just a scared and lonely boy. He was afraid of the things that people would do to him if he fought back everything they did to him, so he cried alone in the darkness. I changed that and brought out the real him, the happy and kind person that will do anything to keep his friends alive and near. So I'm gonna bust him out, whether you like it or not."

Sakura stood up on unbalanced legs and charged at Kayaba, wobbling while she ran at him. She raised her broadsword and swung down at him while knowing that it's pointless to use sword skills because he created them. Her sword hit a purple barrier that forced her backwards and onto her back, only for her to get up once more with more determination, "You can't keep him caged forever!" She yelled as she was forced back once more.

"You can never beat me."

"Really?" Sakura stood back up and charged once more, memories flooding through her mind, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He disappeared into thin air, a lone paper note flittering to the flow of non-existent wind.

_If everyone shall die because of him, you and he will die also._

"Thanks for nothing, you ass." Sakura walked alone in the darkness of the Cardinal, searching for a button switch that would release Leriko out into the world again, "He sold me out, didn't he?" She muttered as she soldiered on with determination filling her system.

"Who are you?" A voice asked from multiple directions in the darkness.

"Sakura."

"Sakura, you say? How do I know if you're lying?" Sakura sighed and rested her sword on her shoulder.

"Listen, buddy, why the hell would I lie to something that I can't see?"

"You've got a point there. What do you want?"

"Can you release Leriko, please?"

"I've already done it."

"Where is he right now?"

"On the third floor. That was the only place to put him where everyone would be safe. That's also where a memory resides. It's a large one as well."

"How do we find these memories of his?"

"They should be white cubes with sparkles in them."

"I didn't know it was possible for these things to happen."

"Me neither. But hey, you're connecting your conscious to the internet so anything can happen."

"I guess. Send me back now, if you don't mind."

* * *

><p>He lay there under a tree with a blank expression, "…What the fuck happened." He sat up and rubbed his temple with his right hand, his left supporting him as he leant backwards. He stood up and approached a white cube that was in front of him, stopping to observe it as it looked suspicious, "Oh, what the fuck can I lose?"<p>

He picked the box up and crushed it in his hand, golden sparks and black dust forming into a small ball that shot into his head and knocked back onto the ground where he passed out.

'_Hey, guys, wanna go on another adventure?' Leriko asked cheerily as he smiled smugly._

'_Why not? We have nothing better to do and I wonder what'll happen this time.' Saito responded after a sigh, running his gloved hand through his hair as he walked over to where Leriko and Sakura were sitting._

'_What about you, Sakura?' He asked as Leriko looked at her with some adorable puppy eyes that made her fall into the temptation._

'_Fine.'_

'_Yes!' Leriko shouted as he jumped from his seat, 'Let's leave right now! I know the perfect spot.'_

'_What are we fighting this time?' Saito asked as they stood up to leave._

'_A mini-boss! It's a giant werewolf in an unexplored part of the forest behind a waterfall!'_

'_Serious?' Sakura asked as they left the inn they were staying out, 'It's been three weeks and we're only level seven.'_

'_Exactly! We'll get lots of EXP from killing this for a quest I found from a stranded warrior.'_

'_Sounds cliché, Leriko.'_

'_I know, but we'll get a _really rare _item that you can't find anywhere else.'_

'_What is it?'_

'_A one-handed long sword made from the teeth of the monster and some fur boots from the monster that boosts agility!'_

'_I feel that only you'll benefit from this.' Saito interjected with a sigh while they approached the edge of a town they were staying in._

'_One of you can get the boots and the other can get the sword. I won't benefit in any way since I'm using the scythe skill path.'_

'_Are there any other drops?'_

'_Maybe a last attack bonus. I'm not sure though.'_

'_There's only one way to find out though.'_

'_Sure is.' They continued travelling with Leriko in front, leading the duo behind him while he whistled a tune. Through the thick foliage and trees a while later, they saw a beautiful sight that took their breath away. There was a large waterfall with crystal, clear water that crashed down a shallow cliff face into a large pool that rippled and rebounded off of its rocky edging. Leriko continued forward, motioning for Saito and Sakura to follow while he walked into water and through a small cave behind the waterfall._

_They followed suite, although more hesitantly as the water was up to their necks. It was dark so they had no way of seeing what was ahead of them, the constant bobbing of water against their skin and the surprisingly amusing whistle that was coming from Leriko that was reminding them that they were still alive._

_Out through the light and into another pooling area, a large forest with towering trees and vines swaying in front of them, 'This is beautiful. How has no one found this place yet?' Sakura was talking to herself as they continued to follow the white-haired boy in front of them, looking around and above them as animals could be heard with wild flowers blossoming around the walking trio._

'_We nearly there, buddy?' Saito asked as he locked his sight back onto the boy in front of him._

'_Just about.' Leriko replied with an excited tone as his black coat swayed gracefully behind him. They entered a large grassy clearing that had flowers everywhere, their vibrant colours sparking the dull greens of the average forest. There was an armoured person lying against a tree with his hand clutching an area on his lower abdomen where blood was visibly running from, 'Hello…adventurers…'_

'_Hey.' Leriko raised a hand and strode over to him where he crouched down in front of him._

'_I need you…to do me...a favour.' He was coughing up blood and he was turning pale quite fast._

'_What may that be?'_

'_I need you…to…take this to…my father in the…village.' The person took out a white clothed object and dropped it in Leriko's hand, his eyes closing one last time as he went limp._

'_Well…as much as I want to bury an NPC, we need to go as this quest has an hour timelimit.'_

'_WHAT!?' Sakura and Saito yelled at the same time as Leriko began jogging his way back to the waterfall. The duo followed after him and let their jaws drop as they saw a seven meter tall wolf-humanoid, 'Ready?' Leriko asked as he grinned at the giant monster in front of him._

_It was brown furred with two brown eyes that held a craving for bloodlust and death, making Sakura and Saito shiver as it howled so loud that they thought their ears were bleeding. It wore some torn blue jeans and had giant, monstrous claws that were coated in blood as it snarled and showed its yellow teeth that could instantly tear a human apart. It swung a claw towards Leriko as three smaller but identical wolf-humanoids appeared from the forest behind them._

'_Sakura, on me. Saito, you take care of those wolf babies.' Leriko jumped back and smiled when he saw the monster attempt to regain its balance._

'_Right, give me the small fry.' Saito mumbled as he nonchalantly walked up to them while slowly shaking his head at Leriko. He drew his sword and nearly screamed when the smaller monsters had two health bars. 'Lesser Werewolf. Interesting. Hope you can give me a good fight!' Saito yelled as he charged at them with his new one-handed long sword._

'_Hey, Leriko, sure we can handle this? It looks scary…' Leriko grinned at her and slowly patted her head while walking forwards._

'_Don't worry, five health bars and the name of Werewolf Griswold makes him seem silly.' The werewolf snarled at the comment and charged at the duo, teeth bared and claws raised as they too charged forwards._

_Leriko started off with a beginner's skill called Crimson Star, a five hit combo that does low damage but inflicts a level three bleeding effect instead. Leriko jumped into the air and dodged both claw strikes while Sakura drew her broadsword, ready to pounce in once Leriko had finished his attack._

_The scythe blade glow blue and struck an upwards right diagonal that was followed by a downwards right diagonal that went from waist to chin to waist. It went back up in a left diagonal that stopped at the shoulder to then suddenly slide across to the other shoulder that finished with a swift left diagonal that reached the starting point._

_The monster staggered backwards while blood started to fiercely run from the star shaped wound across its front, making the monster howl and summon more minions, 'Sakura, go help Saito! I got this!' She started attacking the minions instead of pouncing on the mini-boss while she kept a close eye on fight between two beasts._

_In the middle of falling to the ground in a frozen state, Leriko narrowly lucked out when the monster missed its attempt at an attack by a literal strand of hair. Landing on the floor and being able to move freely, Leriko used an attack that consumed most of his energy, '…Demonic…Slash Blade!'_

_He was encased in a crimson glow that stopped all activity, with the exception of the mini-boss and Leriko, while the others watched in shock, 'Leriko! Don't use that move! You'll die from exhaustion!' Saito attempted to stop his friend from using this skill to receive a grin._

'_Don't worry, I got this!' He shot forward at the speed sound and created a sonic boom that shook the whole area, a crimson glow being known as it speed in many different directions with an afterimage being created while the mini-boss howled in pain. It stopped with Leriko falling to the ground, exhausted from the energy used while the HP bar of the boss went below the yellow of the last bar._

_The attack is powerful and useful, with severe repercussions. The user is unable to use the skill for two weeks and their energy is immediately drained, rendering them useless for the remainder of a battle. The mini-boss roared and pulled out a giant katana that glinted in the sunlight, temporarily blinding the other two party members as all but two of the minions backed off into the forest._

_The sword was slammed down and created a crater as Leriko managed to roll out of the way with a serious level four poison being put upon every player in the area. Saito got back into action with the remainder of the minions and put all his focus in avoiding the large claws that they had. Leriko stood up and wiped blood from the corners of his mouth, the repercussions of Demonic Slash Blade kicking in. He staggered backwards and forwards as he tried to regain balance with Sakura running at him to fend off a fatal blow. _

_Everyone's HP was entering the red as Leriko managed to block the fatal blow from the monster, his scythe splintering under the weight being applied, 'You know…you're pretty good.' Leriko said in a rather strained voice as his scythe was sending large chips of wood into the air. It eventually broke and narrowly missed Leriko once more as he stepped to the side with the redirected blade heading towards Saito, 'Shit! SAITO! GET OUT OF THE WAY!' Leriko yelled as he half jogged, half used the sprint skill to outrun the blade._

_Forcefully shoving his friend out of the way, two claws and a giant katana found a target as Leriko smiled for one last time, 'See…I got it…' His body went limp and the two minions disappeared as the mini-boss stood still and looked down at the surviving two. Leriko's body began dissolving into green polygons that settled on various objects or into the endless winds of the sky as it slowly disappeared._

'_You…YOU…YOU MONSTER!' Saito ran at it and used multiple skills at once, his blade shining multiple colours as he jumped in the air sideways and spun sidewards as a ball of multiple colours as he went straight through the mini-boss, effectively killing it as it dropped its katana and fell into the water with a quiet whimper._

_Everything was silent for a moment as Saito stood in a freeze frame, kneeling on the floor as his sword impaled the ground right next to him, 'Congratulations! You have achieved the last attack bonus! Reward: Coat of the Sorrowful.' Saito stared at the message as tears welled in his eyes._

_Original Sword Skill: Flurry of Regret._

'_LERIKO!'_

* * *

><p><strong>Well, this is a bit shorter than usual so don't mind that. I was trying to achieve a dramatic ending. Anyway, like the names for the sword skills and what not? 'Crimson Star, Demonic Slash Blade and last but not last, Saito's random in-the-moment original sword skill called Flurry of Regret.' Anyway, as I was stating at the start of the chapter, this chapter probably didn't make sense. That's because his memory cubes, the important ones, at least, will be written in. The ones about IRL aren't that important but I can put them in if you guys want.<strong>

**Hopefully you liked this chapter, even if it was confusing. But anyways, I GOT AN OC SUBMISSION! YAY! NO NEED TO BE CREATIVE! Anyway, thanks to Antex-The Legendary Zoroark for submitting. His OC will be in next chapter or the chapter after as I kinda want to take things slow with the story, unless I run out of slow pace ideas. There'll be time skips as well, so don't worry.**

**Plot twists coming up that will ruin the group even more than it already is. That's all I need to say, I think.**

**Review, follow etc. etc. and thanks to everyone, especially Antex-The Legendary Zoroark, for your support :) **

**I mean it, it really means a lot to me.**

**Anyway, I gotta go so bye!**


	5. Hidden Factors

5

Grass. Wind. Sand. Elements of the never ending world called Aincrad. Depression. Sadness. Sorrow. One boy felt it all as he stood at the top of a hill under a lone tree that was said to grant to wishes, "Heh…" His hair shadowed his eyes as he stood in front of a large hole, "…you idiot, Sakura."

* * *

><p>Floor five. Recently opened, bustling with activity. Parties and cheering as Sakura wondered around, lost in her thoughts. It had been three weeks since Leriko was apparently released and she couldn't find him anywhere. Sighing, she sat down on the edge of a water fountain and closed her eyes for a second,<em> 'Under levelled, bad gear, slight depression and one person that will talk normally with me. Also, I have no money. Why can't life be normal? It has sucked since that incident.'<em>

She stood back up and trudged along the road in the town, her thoughts frustrating her even more as the wind started to pick up once more. Floor five was pretty much all forest. A few towns, a rare cottage here and there and challenging monsters that always came in groups of five, "I need something to do…" Sakura neared the edge of town and saw a small flash of white that disappeared almost instantly.

Rubbing her eyes, Sakura continued once more and ran her hand through her hair in distress, _'Maybe I should go hunting or something? I'm only level seven and most people here are above ten.' _With a small sigh, she exited the wooden town to immediately enter a forest that was bustling with activity. She drew her broadsword with another sigh, which she bought a few minutes ago, and neared the nearest monster.

The sword was a meter and a half long, plain and silver. It outclassed her previous one by fifteen attack points, although it doesn't give her stats bonus points which was a disappointment because her agility stat was low as well as her defence stat.

She approached a monkey looking monster that was appropriately named 'Rabid Monkey'. It was pretty violent and agile as it used the terrain to its ability and advantage. Sakura slashed wildly in front of her and managed to smash it into the ground somehow, dazing it while Sakura looked in surprise. Gathering her rather lost bearings, she used a sword skill called 'Smash'. It was fairly simple. It involved the user bringing their sword over their shoulder, so that it was touching their back, for it to smash down and crush the enemy if the HP is low enough for the enemy to be killed.

It dispersed and Sakura frowned when it got silent in the forest. No sounds. No wind. No people. Just herself. A black ball the size of a basketball appeared in front of her and spun around rapidly. A mini tornado was created and leaves and twigs exploded when it came in contact with it. Suddenly, it stopped. Silence once more. The ball started to form into something. Leriko. It was Leriko, "Hey there, bitch." That wasn't Leriko. Leriko wouldn't talk like that.

"Evil Leriko."

"I'm not evil, yeah?"

"What do you want?"

"Eh, wanted to find Leriko."

"Why?"

"Wanted to fight him."

"Why are you talking like that?"

"I dunno, yeah?"

"That sounded like a question."

"It wasn't."

"Anyway, I dunno where Leriko is."

"You do, yeah."

"I don't. I've been looking for him for a month now."

"How sad for you."

"Could you please leave me alone? I'm kinda training here."

"Okay. But first, you've gotta come with me."

"Wait, what are you doing!?" Sakura yelled as she was scooped into Evil Leriko's arms.

"I'm taking you somewhere, yeah."

* * *

><p>"I want to make a deal with you, Leriko."<p>

"What type?"

"I need you to be friends with Hikari."

"Hidden meaning, Kayaba?" Kayaba chuckled and stood from a wooden chair, pacing over to Leriko's side of a white circular table.

"I knew that you'd ask that. I can't…take care of Hikari anymore. I need someone to look after her while I'm gone."

"Oh, you dying on me, old man?" Kayaba chuckled once more and ruffled Leriko's hair.

"Nope, just putting my plan into action."

"What would that be?"

"You'll find out."

* * *

><p>'<em>Saito! Wait!'<em>

'_What do you want!?'_

'_I wanted to talk about what happened…'_

'_THERE'S NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT! MY BEST FRIEND DIED AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!'_

'_Don't say that.'_

'_YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL! DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO LOSE SOMEONE BECAUSE THEY SAVED YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE STUPID!? YOU DON'T! SO LEAVE ME ALONE!'_

'_SAITO! IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!'_

'_YES IT IS!'_

'_LISTEN TO ME! IT WAS HIS DECISION! WE SHOULD RESPECT IT AND LET HIM REST IN PEACE!'_

'_JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!'_

'_Saito…'_

"I shouldn't have said that," Saito lay on his tree branch he claimed and rubbed his eyes, light filtering through the canopy of leaves above him, "I'm such an idiot."

"You know, there's no point in beating yourself up over it." Saito looked down at the ground and frowned when he saw Skarlett standing below his branch.

"What do you want, Skarlett. I thought you'd be with Sakura or something."

"Remind me why I became friends with you?"

"I dunno."

"Seriously? You don't know?"

"Mhmm. You're the one that talked to me."

"Fair enough, I guess."

"Not really. How's Sakura doing?"

"She went missing and I can't find her."

"Oh for fuck's sake," Saito leapt from his branch and nimbly landed on the grassy terrain below him, "Let's go."

"See, I knew you still cared about her."

"Shut up before I maim you," Skarlett giggled and followed Saito as he trudged down a rather steep hill, "Have you checked the fifth floor yet?"

"Fifth floor?"

"Yeah, it opened just this morning."

"Wow. Nobody told me."

"Maybe you shouldn't sleep late."

"Hey! It's not my fault."

"Really?" They walked into the town and to the warp gate while bickering all the while, Saito's mind going on overdrive just to keep up with the situation. After yelling the teleport to the town, which was named Garic, the two continued their arguing once more. They headed out into the forest closest to them and started to shout out Sakura's name, ignoring the looks they were getting from the people out in the fields, "Have you checked her location on your friends list?"

"What? You can do such a thing!?" Saito face palmed and walked deeper into the forest with his face scrunched up in an unamused manner, "Oh, it says she's a hundred meters to our front." They ran now, the trees passing as muffled shouts could be heard from a clearing in front of them.

There stood Sakura, hiding behind a tree, looking at a group of players surrounding one boy, the group wearing red cloaks to hide their identity, "Listen, kid. We don't want to kill you so give us all your stuff and we'll leave you be."

"That's not happening." He sounded emotionless and Saito narrowed his eyes as he analysed the situation. Seven people surrounding one boy, surely that's unfair.

"What makes you say so?" The boy was hidden in the shade of trees so no one could see what he looked like. You could see what he was wearing, though, and he wore an unusual attire that consisted of a simple blue shirt, black pants, blue boots, a black cape and a green overcoat that was open at the front.

"Because of this."

* * *

><p>It wasn't pleasant falling through the sky, I'll have to admit. But I was doing it to protect the pink haired girl that was cradled in my chest as we fell. She was unconscious as well, which made it worse as the near five kilometre free fall propelled us even closer to the forest below us, "Hikari! Wake up!" I'm not sure she heard me through the wind. Hikari's bright green cloak was flapping into my face and I flinched. At least I know what she's wearing.<p>

Hikari was dressed in red and white. A good colour scheme if I must say. She wore a red skirt and a white shirt that did not do well with the giant buster sword strapped to her back. It kind of looked like Cloud's buster sword from Final Fantasy which made me question Kayaba's originality. The ground was about, let's say, two and a half kilometres away and Hikari still hadn't woken up.

I gripped her tightly and turned so my feet would hit the floor first. The bad thing was, my scythe was on my back so I had no way of using it if I had to because I need two hands to use the thing. I sighed and flipped her so she was getting a piggy back ride, her head snuggling into my neck that, if you're a normal guy, would make you blush. And that exact thing happened to me.

"Hikari! WAKE UP AND PREPARE FOR IMPACT!" Well, at least I didn't feel pain at the moment because Kayaba was nice enough.

"What the fuck was that!?" Yelling through a giant cloud of dust? Perfect!

I somehow manoeuvred my body so I pulled out my scythe. With this, I put on the most bloodthirsty grin I could manage and dispersed the cloud of dust with a side swipe and backflip while using two sword skills respectively. 'Hook' and 'Blood Flip'. As Blood Flip may tell from its name, it incurs a level one bleeding status and it is also the second skill you unlock in the scythe path.

I pulled a stance that I saw on Soul Eater and used my grin on the people in front of me. Three people wearing red cloaks, "So, what's going on?"

"Oi, who the fuck are you?" One of them yelled at me and I blinked.

"Me? Well, I'm your regular Angel of Death passing by!" I was punching myself on the inside for saying this maniacally.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"You'll find out...may you find peace in the grave?" I charged at the first one and cut him in half. Literally. His legs and torso disappeared and he was choking before he exploded into some polygons. The blood splattered all over me and the environment, of course, but it will wash out soon enough. Two came from both sides and I pounced forwards and used the only intermediate skill I know, 'Reverse Hook Shot'. It made me jump backwards and quickly turn around while I gently flicked my wrists and decapitated a guy before quickly using another skill called 'Arc Blade' that swung the scythe upwards with the blade facing upwards. It completely cut the guy in half and killed him instantly. The remaining four looked at me and shrugged and while I sighed. They charged at me and they were quickly dispatched by four people that were somewhere in the area with one remaining.

"Hikari, you awake yet?"

"Your shoulder's comfortable so let me sleep." Leriko chuckled and rubbed her pink hair with a blood stained glove.

"Okay. Just try to ignore the screams that could possibly come."

"Okay."

'_Why is she so cute? Did Kayaba do this on purpose?'_

I ignored my own thoughts and strode forward with a polite smile and insane eyes. My tactic of intimidation worked, "Now, gentleman and possible lady, would you be as kind to surrender?"

"…Just who are you? You killed everyone with one shot."

"Me? Well, I'm your regular Angel of Death passing by!" I clapped my hands together and glared at the person while I still smiled politely, "So, what is your answer, dear mortal?" They turned and walked off with their cloak bellowing in the wind.

"Well, that was interesting," A boy in some shadows near me said and I turned to him with a real smile, "Never thought someone could be this powerful."

"Well, I _did _save you. So, I deserve to know your na-."

"LERIKO!" I froze and felt myself being tackled to the ground by a familiar person. Who are they again? Ah, yes, I believe her name is Sakura.

"Get off of me." Hikari somehow managed to mumble when she was being pressed against my back.

"Who are you?" Oh great, they're going to start fighting over me now.

"I'm Hikari. Who're you supposed to be?" Hikari gracefully stood up off of me when Sakura did and I literally grabbed the air in front of me as I felt like passing out.

"Leriko, buddy!" I felt that I was picked up by Saito while Sakura and Hikari were glaring at each other and making growling sounds.

"Thanks…Saito…now, who're you, kid?"

"Robin." He stepped out of the shadows and I immediately noticed his unusual teal hair and slit eyes. His wide, mocking smile was nothing worth noting for now. I hope. Oh, I can't even see his eye colour because they're closed that much. His body is unusually thin and tall…hmmm, he looks like a skeleton. And he looks to be some age of around twenty. Interesting.

"Hey! I'm Leriko! And this is Saito," I pointed to Saito and then pointed to Hikari and Sakura respectively, "and those two are Hikari and Sakura. And that's…" I pointed to a weird loli girl I've never seen before.

"Skarlett." She said and I smiled at her.

"And that's Skarlett."

"Things might be exciting if I hang with you guys!"

"Yeah! They usually are!" I opened my menu and sent him a friend request, grinning all the while, of which he accepted straight away, "Well, what should we do now?"

"What's your relationship with her!?"

"What is she to you!?" I couldn't help but chuckle as Sakura and Hikari pointed at each other and said that at the same time. Robin just smiled at the situation and chuckled slightly.

"Interesting indeed! Very interesting!"

"Who the hell are you!?"

"Who are you!?" Hikari and Sakura did the same as well, except it wasn't directed at me but Robin instead.

"I'm Robin. Nice to meet you, ladies." He made a mock bow that looked to be European and I chuckled again at his sarcasm that was carefully laced into the comment.

"Oh, I'm Hiakri!"

"And I'm Sakura!"

"I've heard."

"Are you a stalker!?" Hikari yelled while covering her body quite…erotically? No, that's not the right word…I give up. She just covered her body.

"No, no, these two over here." He pointed to me and Saito and they just went "oh" before arguing again. Should I do something? Nah, it's too entertaining.

"Let's leave them be for now…" I whispered as I left the forest with Saito, Robin and Skarlett trailing me very closely.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until several hours later that night had fallen. Hikari and Sakura were still nowhere to be seen but everyone present in a small room knew that they'd be fine, "So, I've been planning on creating a guild or something." Leriko said as he leaned on the doorframe with his eyes shut. He thought it was quite creepy when Robin never stopped grinning.<p>

"Oh. If we are, what will we name it?" Robin asked ever so stoically. Leriko smiled a small smile and turned his head towards the group, his now open eyes scanning over everyone.

"The Dark Phoenix."

"Why would that be?" Skarlett leant back in her chair and looked at the roof with her arms outstretched.

"Well, I'm wearing all black and I'm practically immortal."

"Oh?" Robin's grin faltered slightly and it revealed some crimson eyes for a second that quickly disappeared when he regained his composure, "Care to explain?"

"Well, you'll find out if I trust you enough."

"Yeah, I don't even know and I've been your friend for ages." Saito retorted and placed his chin in his palm.

"You're different and have experienced some crazy shit that has to do with it."

"Anyway, why name the guild after just you?" Robin stepped over to a window and peered out it in a bored manner.

"I dunno. It was the first thing that came to mind." Leriko grinned when he saw Saito face palm hard enough to leave a hand print on his face.

"That's so like you."

"Hmm, well, why aren't our cursors red? I thought we killed those PKers." Skarlett stood up and comfortably leant against the wall with her arms crossed and eyes shut.

"It doesn't apply to us since I pulled and cut some strings."

"Stop being cryptic. And you're not meant to say that you cut some strings."

"Well, I literally did. And by cut, I mean cut the PKer's lives."

"Don't feel guilty about it?" Robin asked as he glanced at Leriko over his shoulder, his wide and mocking grin making Leriko feel a bit uneasy about the current situation.

"Nah, they deserved it, humans or not. Killing people isn't right." Leriko grabbed his head and grimaced as a memory came to mind.

_Truck. Bliss. Death._

"Bliss…" Leriko whispered it at a low enough level that he thought no one could hear. But Robin heard Leriko and glanced at him quizzically.

"Bliss? What do you mean by that?" Leriko swore at Robin's question and closed his eyes while taking a deep breath. Something about Bliss seems so…familiar to him.

"Nothing. Don't mind me." Leriko ran his right hand through his hair before sighing and leaving the small room. He walked out the inn that the room was located in and left the city. He sat against a tree and looked at the moon, _'Why do I always do this when I'm sad?'_

He chuckled and closed his eyes, _'I don't remember much about my life but I don't mind. There has to be a good reason as to why I can't remember anything.'_

"Feeling depressed?" Leriko opened one of his eyes slightly and looked ahead as Saito sat next to him.

"I don't really know. My memories are all jumbled up and I don't remember much before opening my eyes in the first floor plaza."

"Tough luck."

"Talk about it. Why'd you come out here anyway?"

"Didn't have anything to do. Everyone's gone to sleep and the other two aren't back yet."

"It's kinda Kayaba's fault for sticking Hikari on me."

"What do you mean?" Saito snapped his head towards Leriko's and stared at him while waiting for an answer.

"…She's the original Cardinal System that ran the game. Because she was against the idea of locking everyone up with a chance of death he disabled her GM privileges and set her as a player. He's entrusted me to look after her since he knows that she's somewhat important to me…Best thing is that she's some type of human AI."

"Well, look after her well."

"I'll try my best."

"Want to go out and hunt? I haven't been in a while and I'm quite under levelled."

"Why not? Sounds fun…what are we gonna kill though?"

"How about the floor boss?"

"HELL YEAH!"

"We should get everyone else though."

"Dammit. Well, less chances of dying then."

"Exactly." Saito manipulated his menu with his fingers and sent a group message that everyone replied to almost instantly.

"_Guys, we're gonna kill the boss tonight!"_

"_We're under levelled."_

_"It doesn't matter."_

"_LET'S DO THIS!"_

* * *

><p>Standing outside the boss door was a group of six players that all had different weapons with different skills. Leriko with his scythe, Saito with his one-handed long sword, Sakura with her broadsword, Hikari with her buster sword, Robin with his wakizashi sword and Skarlett with her dagger.<p>

Leriko had wanted to make their entrance dramatic, so he kicked the intricate door of the boss room open and strolled in with his scythe against his shoulder. Saito to his right, Robin to his left and everyone behind as they heard a roar come from in front of them. The almost pitch-black room lit up to reveal a giant ape monster that banged its chest and roared once more.

"King Kong, huh. What a name rip-off." Saito muttered as Leriko charged straight in with Hook active. He grazed one arm of the boss and jumped back when a fist came swinging down to crush him.

"DAMMIT KAYABA! GET AN IMAGINATION AND DON'T STEAL IDEAS FROM MOVIES YOU PRICK!" Everyone stopped and looked at Skarlett as she jumped twelve feet into the air with her dagger lodged into King Kong's eye. It roared and punched her across the room where she crashed into the wall and cursed when her HP nearly went to zero. She pulled out a potion and chugged it down as various lines of colour could be seen streaking across the boss. It was then that she noticed that it had three HP bars with the first one barely depleted.

Robin used 'Cutting Edge' as he neared the boss' right ankle, an uppercut-like strike that was followed by a left hook. It created a cross that left a five second paralysis on the target which allowed any other players in the area to let loose on the target.

Robin watched in a freeze frame as Leriko and Saito chained and created combos nonstop. A Slant from Saito followed by a Horizontal square with the fourth strike being parried by Leriko that sent Saito reeling. Saito used that chance to use Sonic Leap and then Uppercut. While Saito was doing that, Leriko used 'Twirl', a skill that spins the user in an arc. After using that on the left ankle, he followed up with 'Kick Flip', a skill that launches the player in the air and makes them use the scythe in a reverse grip, the blade slicing through the enemy as they flew through the air.

It shouldn't be possible because of the cool down period but they were breaking through that barrier and relentlessly showing S-Class teamwork as they took one quarter of the boss' HP bar in five seconds. As they landed and rolled away from the boss in different directions, Saito got put in a freeze frame and Leriko was missing some HP.

Robin jumped back and stopped to think, _'The boss seems to have a weakness on the ankles and eyes. If we strike there, we will definitely get critical strikes.'_

"Hikari, you're up!" Hikari responded to Leriko's shout and charged past him, her buster sword igniting in flames as she leapt forward and launched into the air, taking a second to stare the boss in its one good eye. She ripped Skarlett's dagger from the eye that had been stabbed and rammed her sword into that eye instead, the blade running across the face continuously and then down the body as she fell, a 'T' like shape being burnt into the boss' flesh.

"Hikari, what'd I tell you about spamming Horizontal and then a Vertical!?"

"Sorry, Leriko! Promise I won't do it again!" Hikari pounced back and grinned when a large fist nearly crushed her under its weight, "Leriko, reckon we could team up for this?" Leriko grinned and ran towards her, his scythe glowing a dangerous purple and yellow as Hikari jumped and landed on his shoulders as he still ran, "So, what's the plan?" Leriko glanced at her and headed towards the wall of the room, preparing to jump onto it and run up it.

"The usual."

"Sweet. Reckon everyone's gonna shit themselves?"

"Of course they will. It's too epic to ignore!" Leriko launched himself onto the wall and ran with Hikari clinging to his shoulders. When he was a few good meters above the boss' head, he used the wall as a springboard and launched off, flying towards the other end of the room as Hikari's giant buster sword started to glow green.

"**Twin Style: Nature's Spiral!"**

They suddenly stopped directly above the boss and grinned at each other as their weapons clashed together.

"Ready?" Leriko asked.

"Am I ever not?" Hikari responded as they started to slowly fall towards the floor. Leriko manoeuvred himself so he was spinning around Hikari, the skill kicking in and spinning him at the speed of sound. A spiral of purple and yellow could be seen with a layer of green in the middle, the spiral growing thicker every second.

It impacted against the boss' head and an explosion occurred, a bright white filling the room as screams and roars could be heard from the centre of the explosion. The explosion then stopped and rushed back into itself, a tiny condensed dome of white covering a small crater that then exploded once more and sent dust flying everywhere…

* * *

><p>I feel so…sore. I hope Leriko's doing fine. I heard spluttering come from somewhere inside the dust storm and I rushed over to it immediately, "IS EVERYONE OKAY!?" I shouted from my position and a chorus of moans and coughs were heard from everywhere around me. Maybe we shouldn't have done that technique considering it has enough power to destroy a normal dungeon entirely to leave nothing. <em>Nothing. <em>

But, this was no normal dungeon. It was the boss room so the room is an immortal object. Well, for _normal _players, everything was an immortal object. But Leriko and I are…different. I'm an AI person that's actually a person and Leriko's kind of immortal. So, granted those things, we're not normal.

As another loud roar could be heard from somewhere near me, I sighed rather heavily. Man, why can't things just die easily!?

"Hikari…I kinda need a little help…" Leriko was in front of me and he was awkwardly sprawled on the floor.

"Well, that'll have to wait. The boss isn't dead yet."

"GOD DAMMIT! THIS IS WORSER THAN THE TIME I USED DEMONIC SLASH BLADE!" He jumped up and held his shoulder. He was pretty beat up, cuts and bruises all over his body with his torn clothes, "LET'S KILL THIS FUCKER ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Leriko swiped the dust away with his scythe and it all went into my face, "Did you have to blind me and choke me with the dust?" I heard him chuckle and I frowned. This obviously can't be good for his health, "Leriko, I got this. You go sit over…," The whole floor and wall was in bad shape and giant boulders and rocks were strewn about from our massive explosion. At least they provided cover, "…there."

Scratch that. _Temporary _cover. One of the boulders got crushed as Leriko was about to sit on it. He jumped back and started to run away as the giant monkey started chasing him, "SOMEONE SAVE ME!" He was literally screaming and I felt like I wanted to sweat drop, alas, this is not an anime or manga.

I sighed and scurried over to where mine and Leriko's weapons were planted in the floor…HOW COULD HE EVEN FORGET HIS WEAPON!?

"LERIKO YOU IDIOT! YOU FORGOT YOUR WEAPON!" I pulled my sword from the floor and blinked when I noticed that everyone was nearly dead or was unconscious. With a rather long sigh, I walked over to the monster and stabbed my sword into its arm. It started bleeding out some weird gooey, green substance that began to melt my sword.

WAIT!? IT'S MELTING MY SWORD!? AND THE MONKEY HAS NO SKIN OR FUR!

I pulled my blade from the monkey and started to frantically shake it around the place. The good news was, it all flew from my blade. The bad news…well, let's just say that any males would be drooling at what they saw.

I'll leave it to my imagination as to what is happening by the sound of angered cries coming from the…ahem…_female _players.

"GOD DAMMIT KAYABA YOU PERV!" That's certainly not good if it's coming from Skarlett.

I shook my head and activated an AOE sword skill. I launched up into the air and swung my sword into the ground when I impacted, a large crater being created with a bunch of green gooey stuff flying all over the place.

Leriko was still being chased by the giant monkey and Saito was laughing his ass off at him, "Saito…just…go help him while I deal with…_this_." I pointed over to Sakura and Skarlett and made an attempt to block any…unpleasant sights with my giant sword. It proved useless though as he fell off of the boulder I failed to notice he was sitting on.

"Get some weapons up…please." They quickly followed my command and stood up after flailing around to get all the green stuff off of them and they were equipped with all sorts of weapons. I thought that that wasn't possible. They nodded at me and I sprint ahead towards the giant monster with a war cry that sounded really childish. And humiliating. Did I mention more feminine than Leriko?

I cut through the monkey's foot and it came off. Just like that. Poof. No more foot. Poof. More green goo. Oh joy, the pleasures of acidic green stuff. And why is this even…no…it can't be him! I looked over to Leriko and saw that he had a grin on his face.

"Leriko…stop imagining this shit RIGHT NOW!" He stopped and glared at me for a second before he was swat into the wall by the giant monkey who appeared to be on my side. I shook my head and watched as Sakura and Skarlett cleanly sliced it in two. It exploded into green goo that started to melt everything it touched. Including floors and weapons. It's good that it didn't hit anyone because when it does come in contact with players, it will not let go.

The congratulation banner appeared and I swear I heard a disappointed sigh from somewhere, "YES! WE BEAT THIS FUCKER!" I heard Saito yell and I giggled. Leriko was lying on the floor, gasping for air while dry heaving so I decided to approach him.

"You took that better than I expected."

"…screw…you…"

"This fight was way too easy. Our twin styles only do one and a half bars of damage max. Something's not right here." This is entirely true. While Leriko was locked away with me, we decided to create combos and stuff just in case we need to escape or kill something quickly. We tested our combos on mock bosses, one's that have had their data copied and made into a clone so we could measure the damage parameters.

"I…agree." Leriko sat up and grabbed a hand I unconsciously held out. Must've been all the times he passed out from exhaustion or had collapsed rubbing off on me. I helped him up and he stretched his limbs. We didn't notice that the room was getting darker. It wasn't until a multi toned voice came from nowhere.

"_Well done, warriors. That was splendid teamwork. I wanted the battle to be…more difficult, I should say. But, because I'm a nice person, I turned it down a lot as you had no chance to defeat it."_

What an arrogant prick. I want to find who this is and rip their tongue off. And it looks like I'm not the only one, Robin has an unamused face that was also mixed with a frown.

"_But this is where the real test begins. That wasn't even the real boss for this floor. This whole dungeon is an illusion."_

"And what may this test be, Evil Leriko?" Sakura somehow knew who it was. And it was an evil Leriko apparently.

"_Oh, you know my identity? I rather a different name though. Maybe…ah, this will do…my new name is Takeshi. Back on topic. Only the people in this room can clear this floor. If you don't do it in my preferred time limit of one hour, everyone will die. Including the people out in the towns and villages. It's not that hard…for _now_ so it shouldn't take long." _Leriko balled his fists and gripped his hands when he heard the name Takeshi for some reason. He also had his hair over his eyes.

"Why exactly are you doing this?" I couldn't help but ask. I was plain curious and I wanted to know why he was threatening to kill everyone in Aincrad.

"_To test Leriko's strength. In the end, we're all monsters, are we not? And the hero that wades through the darkness will need a dramatic end. Your trial starts now."_ The room lit back up again and all eyes were on Leriko.

"What?"

"What is he talking about?" No one noticed the small wooden trapdoor that had appeared in the largest crater, except for me.

"Guys! I found a freaking trapdoor so stop your little pow-wow and get over here!" I ran over to the trapdoor and slung it open. There was only certain doom down there as it was pitch black and I couldn't see the bottom.

"Who wants to go first?" Saito asked from the back of the group. He walked over to Leriko and put a hand on his shoulder. He led him to the trapdoor and was prepared to push him down when something pushed _me _down instead.

I screamed as I saw and felt nothing.

* * *

><p>Everyone, once through the trapdoor, felt a sudden blast of heat that abruptly jolted them into a sitting position, "We're all alive." Sakura said as she stood up and glanced over everyone. Hikari had her face buried in the sandy terrain of they place they were located. Saito was being crushed by Leriko, Robin had somehow landed on his feet and Skarlett was rubbing her back, "That freaking hurt…"<p>

"Of course it did. I'm being crushed by this guy who seems to be unconscious." Saito attempted to push Leriko off of him but he failed. With a grunt and a strong heave, Leriko was pushed into the sand and everyone took a second to observe their surroundings. There was only sand. No trees, water or visible animals. A big, hot desert where they could possibly die.

"Ow…who stabbed me?" Leriko slowly pushed himself up with one hand while the other was holding his shoulder, the location where some green stuff was oozing from a puncture wound.

"It certainly wasn't me." Sakura walked over and helped him up off of the floor while everyone conversed among each other. However, Robin took the initiative and started looking around for anything that may help them. They had no weapons. Only themselves.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" Leriko asked. Everyone looked at him questioningly and he couldn't help but sweat slightly as he took a step back, "What? Why are you looking at me? Do I have something on my face?"

"Yeah, answers to your own question. You're the reason why we're here so you can get us out." He took a step back and turned to run, Saito's answer to his question hanging heavily in his mind.

"Screw this! Every man for himself!" He only got a few steps before he was tackled to the ground by Saito.

"Fuck you, man! You're getting us out of this." The started wrestling and arguing and Sakura massaged her temples while she began to walk the other way. Everyone followed her, except for the duo in the sand, and they didn't say a single word as they trudged along in the sand.

Several minutes later, they came across a single stone pillar that was aged with chips and erosion, "WHY DID YOU LEAVE US BEHIND!" Leriko shouted as he stopped and leant on the pillar for support, his breathing in short, ragged gasps while he was wincing from the several bruises on his body.

He didn't get an answer and he opened his mouth to speak only for him to shut it as Skarlett motioned to be quite. Leriko turned around and frowned when he saw only a darkness that was sweeping across the ground like fog towards them.

When it covered everyone's feet and kept going, they started disappearing one after another until Leriko remained by himself, "What is happening. Is this your doing, Takeshi?"

"_Shouldn't that be obvious?"_

"Yeah. But why do this? I know you want to kill me for some reason and it won't end well."

"_Well, my motives shall not be known. You wanna know a way to get stronger? It's to revisit your darkest memories and move on from them."_

"What the hell do you mean?"

"_Just close your eyes and it'll feel all better."_

"That sounds like something you'd say during rape or something."

"_Just do it before I kill everyone."_

"Okay. I'll do it." Leriko shut his eyes and in all truth, it felt like he was flying. His body got light and he could feel some numbness around his head before his eyes were forcefully snapped open.

* * *

><p><em>He ran. He moved those legs of his as fast as he could through the forest. He was crying and sobbing as the wind rushed past his ears and his brown hair was lazily flopping about. The emotions he felt could be described as despair. His friend just died and it's all his fault.<em>

_He relished the silence of the forest as he sat against a rock curled into a ball, the sounds of his cries echoing through the empty place, 'Why…why did that happen? WHY IS MY LIFE SO CRUEL!? I don't deserve to live. I should've taken her place…maybe I should've killed those guys that made her die.'_

'_You know, you don't need to say things like that,' Leriko's other side crouched down in front of him and ruffled his head with a small smile, 'It's bad for your health.'_

'_Why do you even exist? Why can I see you? What do you want and why is my life so bad!?'_

'_You ask too many questions. I exist because I can. Well, you actually wanted me to be real so your brain is basically making me some sort of visual delusion. And I don't want anything, you actually do. You can answer all your own questions.'_

_The real Leriko sighed, sat up and rubbed his eyes before he tilted his head and looked up at the sky with a serene expression, 'You think that she's happy? Bliss, I mean.'_

'_Yeah…wherever she is now, she's probably happy,' Leriko's delusion looked up at the sky as well and blinked when he felt a drop of water land on his cheek, 'It's gonna rain. Because I know that you like it here, go find some shelter or something because you don't want to get sick.'_

'_Yeah, I totally don't want to get sick.' Leriko's sarcasm wasn't taken in stride and he received a pinch on the cheek._

'_Be serious about this.'_

'_Fine. Let's go.' The two Leriko's stood up and walked through the forest in silence, neither daring to say anything that will break the peace between the two. After a minute, they came across a small cave that the two sat in, a continuous downpour of rain beginning right before their eyes. It was at that moment that a small and orange fox cub trotted into the den, soaking wet and shivering._

_It trotted over to the real Leriko and yapped at him, getting the young boy's attention entirely as he stared at it for a moment. Leriko took off an orange hoodie he was wearing and wrapped the fox up in it, bringing it close so that it could warm close and feel some comfort. It yapped again and snuggled into him, its small tail wrapping around one of his hands as it could be heard breathing._

'_See, you have a new friend. What are you going to name him?' Leriko thought about it. He wasn't good with naming things so he had a hard time deciding on the matter._

'_Takeshi…his name is Takeshi. Do you like that name, Takeshi?' The small fox yapped and looked up at him happily, 'You do? I'm Leriko, nice to meet you, Takeshi.' Leriko's delusion chuckled and ruffled the real one's hair happily._

'_See, everything has a silver lining.'_

'_I guess it does.'_

'_Well,' the fake Leriko stood up and walked to the exit of the cave, a hand up as he glanced over his shoulder, 'My time here is up. See you!' With that, he disappeared into the trees and the rain stopped._

'_What do you wanna do, Takeshi?' The small fox yapped again and Leriko chuckled. He stood up and left the cave with a wide smile, a one-eighty degree spin from what he was like a few minutes ago. Leriko wandered through the forest in hopes of finding his way home while he also looked for what may be Takeshi's parents, but to no avail._

_Leriko happily bound home and headed straight to his room after his mother questioned why he was so happy before she noticed the fox in his arms, 'Leriko, you can't do that. Foxes aren't domesticated and its parents will probably attack something.'_

'_He found me while he was about to freeze to death.'_

'_Ok, whatever makes you happy.' Leriko shut the room to his door and placed Takeshi on the floor where he trotted around and got accustomed to his surroundings. Leriko sat in front of his PC and started it up, his desktop booting up to show some art of anime he watched before. He opened Google Chrome, his preferred internet browser and headed straight to Google to search some much needed information. He was planning on keeping Takeshi as a pet and he didn't want him to get sick or die from lack of sustenance._

_After an hour of searching the internet, Leriko leant back in his chair and sighed in frustration. He couldn't find anything useful and the internet was full of crap, in his opinion. He headed to the kitchen with a rather happy Takeshi following behind him with all the elegance a dancer should have, his small and quiet footsteps being heard over Leriko's light and silent ones. He opened the fridge and pulled out a carrot, one of the useful pieces of information he gathered being that foxes eat varied vegetables and mammals, as well as insects._

_He cut up the carrot and crouched down in front of Takeshi with a piece in hand, the small fox happily taking the piece in his mouth to chew on it. Leriko got out a small bowl and filled it with water, also giving it to Takeshi. Leriko rummaged through his fridge and pulled out some chocolate that he bit on as he wandered back to his room, Takeshi following in tow once more like a lost puppy. Leriko sat down on his chair once more and put on his pair of red Axent headphones, the video he loaded up previously playing when he pressed his mouse._

_The audio played and the video rolled, time quickly advancing as he lost all focus on everything but the video as night slowly rolled in._

_He lent back in his chair and stretched his arms in the air, a sigh coming from his mouth as he felt his muscles effectively stretch. He stood up from the chair and noticed that Takeshi was sleeping in a pile of dirty clothes with his tail lying next to him as he curled into a ball. Leriko smiled amidst the darkness of his room as he crouched down next to the small fox and picked it up in his arms. He turned on the hallway light as he searched for a blanket to use._

_Approaching a small closet in the hallway, he froze when he heard the sound of what appeared to jingling near his back door, "Dammit, I can't get the lock!" After hearing that whisper, he frowned and headed back to his bedroom where his cell phone lay on his desk. The lights went off and his door was closed as he searched for his cell phone in almost pitch black darkness. He fumbled around on his desk to do the same to his bed to not find anything._

'Where the hell did I put my phone...!? Shit…the living room.'

_Leriko face palmed and mentally cursed when he heard several footsteps outside his door along with the sound of objects moving, 'This place has nothing in it that's worth taking.'_

'_Shut up and search. You go to that room down the hall and I'll take this one here.'_

'_Fine.' One pair of footsteps were heard leaving while another could be heard in front of Leriko's bedroom door. Leriko scurried under his bed and held his breath while footsteps casually went past his face. Takeshi was awake by now and he yapped once, stopping the thief in his tracks as he looked around. Takeshi wriggled around in Leriko's arms before he bit Leriko and ran out of cover to confront the thief, "Aw, what do we have here?" Another yap._

_Leriko took a deep breath and rolled out from under his bed when he saw the feet near the door. He approached the thief from behind and, with a shirt in his hands that was acquired from his clothes pile, swung it over his head and lodged in the back of his mouth so he couldn't make any noise. Leriko pulled the guy to the ground and tied around his head while he was flailing about in an attempt to escape._

_His hands were bound quickly, but not without a chance of injury. In Leriko's hurried attempt to tiethe thief's hands together behind his back, he was punched in the stomach and hit in the face. When it was done though, the thief stopped struggling altogether as he accepted his defeat quite peacefully._

_Leriko peaked out his room and looked both ways down his hallway, his blue eyes seeming to glow in the darkness as he crouched low while approaching his mother's room. The door was open and there was another person in there. He was rummaging about through the drawers while Leriko approached. Just as Leriko was about to put his hand over the person's mouth and pull them to the floor, he felt some hands grab him by the shoulders and throw into the floor, 'Tricks don't work twice, little boy.'_

_Leriko swore out loud since he was found out, but he didn't give up without a fight. In his attempt to brawl his way out the room and into the hallway were he can make a getaway, he didn't notice a third person enter the room with a very large knife that came straight from his kitchen. He choked on his breath as a knife went straight through his stomach. It went out and the young boy clutched his stomach as blood began to soak his shirt and stomach, 'It's better this way.' The person behind him stabbed Leriko again and he grit his teeth as the knife began to twist._

_He felt blood begin to rise in his throat as he stepped forward and fell to the ground, his expression showing pain while he glared at the three people crouching in front of him, 'You know, it's not nice to tie people up.' Leriko's eyes widened as he felt a ball of spit explode on his face._

'_Fuck you. Takeshi…where is he?'_

'_That little fox?' The guy that spat on Leriko's face reached behind him and pulled out a limp Takeshi that had blood caking his orange coat of fur, 'That's what happened.' Takeshi was thrown in front of Leriko's face and he whimpered went he landed on the floor. Leriko just lay there, not believing the sight in front of him. After what seemed to be minutes, he finally reacted with a guttural throat sound that evolved into a full on scream that echoed around the neighbourhood._

_Leriko, despite the excruciating pain he was feeling, stood up with his back hunched over while he laughed maniacally while he took a step forward. Blood ran down his legs as he took another step forward. On the last step, his laughter died down and he lifted his head slightly, his brown hair covering all but one eye that seemed to illuminate._

_He lunged forward and grabbed the knife from the person's hands, the blade slicing across his hand as it was ripped downward. As the other two people approached with caution, Leriko flipped the knife in a murderer's grip as he tackled one of them to the floor. Leriko straddled his waist and raised the knife in the air, the person cowering in fear as it was brought down onto him. It went straight through his heart and out again, the sudden motion covering Leriko's grinning face in blood as he then licked the knife clean of the blood._

_The man could only cry as it was brought down once more in multiple thrusts, blood flying onto Leriko's body and face while the other two people just stood in shock. It was then that they decided to act. They ran at Leriko and one tackled him to the floor, Leriko's maniacal grin shaking his soul as he felt the knife go into his neck and completely destroy his throat as it was forcefully ripped across the whole width of it._

_The man collapsed on top of a laughing Leriko and his blood ran across Leriko's being as the carpet soaked up what it could of the red liquid. The last man ran from the place. Out the bedroom and out the door they broke through while a grinning Leriko ran after him with the bloodied knife raised in the air. The man slammed the door shut and vaulted the nearby fence._

_Leriko stopped in front of the door and frowned while he lowered his arm, the blood from the knife dripping on the tiled floor as he gripped his stomach and stumbled backwards. He hurriedly stumbled into the bathroom and took his shirt off. He opened a cabinet and rummaged through it in hopes to find something to bandage his stomach with only to get no results. He heard sirens as his vision went all blurry. He didn't even notice that he fell to the floor, the blood loss taking toll while he felt the adrenaline in his system leave as fast as it came._

_The last thing he heard and saw was a police officer barging into the bathroom with his pistol drawn._

* * *

><p>"I…I…I'm a murderer…" He collapsed to his knees and stared at his hands. He felt tears run down his face and he made no attempt to wipe them from his face.<p>

"_The whole point of that was to make you accept what you did and move on from it."_

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!? I KILLED PEOPLE AND ENJOYED IT! ISN'T THERE ANYTHING NOT WRONG WITH THAT!?"

"_I'm supposed to be the bad guy, you know. I could be terrorising you and slowly killing your friends right in front of you."_

"I know that you wouldn't do that…you're me and I'm you. We're the same being so killing my friends would do the something to you that it would do to me. If that made any sense."

"_But that is where you are wrong. I have adopted a physical form in this world and I shall remain here as long as you do."_

"I need help though. How I am supposed to move on from murder?"

"_You should remember it."_

"How is that supposed to do anything!?"

"_It reminds you of what you did and why. It serves as a reminder and milestone in your life. On that night, you officially became a demon and angel at the same time."_

"Wha…?" Leriko stood up and wiped his face with his sleeves as a bright white light filled the darkness of the space he was in.

"_You became a demon because you brutally murdered those two men while enjoying it and you became an angel because you let one of them escape and you saved Takeshi."_

"…But Takeshi died."

"_He actually didn't. The police took him to the vet and he survived in critical condition."_

"Why didn't they tell me!?"

"_Beats me."_

"How do you even know this?"

"_Sources. Now go. Your mission here is done." _Leriko took a step forward. Then another. Then another one before he broke into a full on sprint towards the light.

'_I don't understand what happened just then. Does this mean everyone is saved? He was probably joking about that but the sixth floor should be open now.'_

"_And she lives, Leriko." _Leriko slowly stopped his run and stood there. In front of the portal like light.

"…" He stood there for a minute. He continued, walking slowly into the portal as it consumed his whole being.

* * *

><p><strong>I don't feel like I should've uploaded the first few thousand words. I was high on painkillers when I wrote it and I'm too lazy to go back and edit it. Meh.<strong>

**This was uploaded a little later because I had surgery :/**

**I'm fine though so you don't need to worry. And I got a lot of new stuff :D**

**I bought a few games for my PS3 and Xbox One. Like COD Advanced Warfare (barely play it) Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution (one of the best fighting games EVER) and Assassin's Creed Unity! They're all great games.**

**I know that Robin didn't get much screen time but next chapter it'll be focused on him, Leriko, Sakura and Skarlett. And another thing is the first person segments. Did you like them? Hate them? With Hikari's though, it's not as serious or dark considering the fact that she's a child so the boss fight wasn't that serious in her perspective.**

**And no, the green goo stuff wasn't trying to molest them. It was binding them and because Hiakri's a child and didn't actually look at what was happening, she assumed things that she saw on the internet. Yeah…that kind of stuff. And don't say that she wouldn't be able to go on the internet cos she's an AI.**

**There's a backstory to that. Also, Evil Leriko (now dubbed Takeshi because Leriko loved his fox to death) has his reasons for helping Leriko. That crap will be complicated and probably unrealistic.**

**Antex-The Legendary Zoroark, with the limited screen time Robin had, did I nail him? And you kind of didn't give me a backstory to go with why he's smiling like a fool all the time. And you didn't give me other things to go play around with. Like his life story or motivation to get out of the game. That stuff **_**is **_**important because it's going to be a critical factor towards the end of SAO.**

**At the pace that things are happening, it'll be a while until the SAO arc is finished. I know how it's going to end but it's a matter of how to get there. And knowing myself, I haven't done that.**

**But never mind that. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Review or something. **

**I also came up with an awesome idea for another story. Might do it, might not. It has Leriko in it though because I'm a scrub and will always use him in stories.**

**Anyway, see you later!**


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